The Illegal Removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

On March 15, 2025, the Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport more than two hundred alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang (which the United States has deemed a terrorist organization) to El Salvador.

On one of those flights was Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported without due process.

In March 2019, Garcia and three other men were arrested in Hyattsville, Maryland, in the parking lot of a Home Depot.

Prince George’s County Police Department stated the men were “loitering” and later identified one of the men with Garcia as a member of MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha, an international criminal gang that has origins in Los Angeles, California, during the 1980s.)

Throughout his 2019 case, Garcia’s lawyers made it clear that he had never been convicted of any crime, specifically any involving gang affiliation, in the United States or in El Salvador. At the time of this case, Garcia had been living in the U.S. for 14 years

The judge who presided over Garcia’s case, however, said that there was “sufficient evidence to support Mr Abrego Garcia’s gang membership.”

Subsequently, Garcia was denied bail and remained in custody. During this time, he applied for asylum in order to prevent his deportation to El Salvador out of fear from the death threats and extortion received by local Salvadorian gang Barrio 18.

In October 2019 he was granted a “withholding of removal” order - a status different from asylum. Allowing him to continue working and live within the United States.

On April 17th, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvado where he appears to be healthy and alive in all photos.

Later after this meeting ensued, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele took to social media mocking Garcia and the controversy around his case.

“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele stated on X.

On April 24th, Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia’s wife, spoke with MSNBC regarding this situation surrounding her and her relationship with Garcia.

“Enough is enough. My family can’t be robbed from another day without seeing Kilmar. This administration has already taken so much from my children, from Kilmar’s mother, brothers, sisters and me,” Sura said.

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By SETH GIBBONS

Staff Writer