A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to secure the release of a man wrongly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador last month and return him to the United States after his lawyers argued he was at imminent risk of death in that country.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland directed the administration to arrange the return of Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant married to a U.S. citizen, by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday. As the judge issued her order from the bench, his supporters outside the courtroom cheered.
The Trump administration immediately appealed the ruling Friday. Officials have argued that they have no power to return Abrego García because he is in the custody of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
“We suggest the Judge contact President Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an email.
Bukele posted a photo of a confused looking cartoon rabbit in response to a report on the judge’s ruling from an X account called “End Wokeness.”
The judge’s ruling followed an extraordinary admission from a Justice Department lawyer at the hearing Friday that even he has struggled to obtain answers about why officers deported Abrego García, despite a court order forbidding it because he had fled death threats from gang members in El Salvador. The Trump administration deported the longtime Maryland resident to a prison filled with alleged gang members.
The State Department, which had said it negotiated with El Salvador to house deportees, referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS reiterated its argument that Abrego García is a member of the MS-13 gang, with ties to the United States and El Salvador.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agency has intelligence reports that he is also involved in human trafficking, without providing evidence.
At the hearing Friday, Xinis said she would not consider discussion of the government’s allegations of the man’s alleged gang activity — saying no evidence had been presented to support that.
The case drew dozens of Abrego García supporters to the federal courthouse in Greenbelt on Friday. Demonstrators called on Maryland lawmakers — who are weighing immigration-related legislation — to restrict state and local cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a time when the Trump administration is trying to carry out the largest number of deportations in U.S. history.
Lawyers had filed an emergency lawsuit seeking Abrego García’s return last month. U.S. officials argued that, beyond the administration being powerless to effectuate his return, Abrego García’s lawyers have “not clearly shown” that he would face harm in the prison.
Abrego García’s lawyer argued in court records that the government’s claims are “outrageous” and alleged that the Trump administration has “washed their hands” of him, his wife and their autistic and nonverbal 5-year-old son, a U.S. citizen.
“They’re coming before this court and saying, ‘We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of options,’ ” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told Xinis, an Obama nominee, at the Friday hearing.
The hasty removal of Abrego García and hundreds of other immigrants to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, where human rights groups have said inmates have faced beatings and shortages of food and water, has spurred criticism that the Trump administration has imprisoned people for matters that are typically civil violations of immigration law. Government officials have argued that they are deporting serious offenders, but they have not identified most of them or provided evidence to support their allegations.
During the hearing, Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni conceded that the U.S. government should not have deported Abrego García but said he was unable to answer the judge’s questions about the government’s legal authority to do so.
“On what authority was he seized?” Xinis asked.
“My answer to a lot of these questions is going to be frustrating,” Reuveni said. “And I’m frustrated that I don’t have answers to a lot of these questions.”
Xinis noted that the government lacked an arrest warrant or other documents to support his detention, a sign that “from the moment he was seized, it was unconstitutional.”
“What is the actual document that gave these officers the ability to start this process?” she asked the government lawyer.
“That is not in the record and the government has not put that in the record,” Reuveni responded, “and that’s the best I can do.”
“Why can’t the United States get Mr. Abrego García back?” Xinis later asked.
“When this case landed on my desk, I asked my clients that very question,” Reuveni said. “To date, I have not received an answer that is satisfactory.”
The case tapped into worries over the Trump administration’s more aggressive efforts to detain or deport immigrants, including those who have temporary protected status, student visas, or even green cards permitting them to reside in the United States.
