Cnn
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The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia began quietly, boiling by an office error which made him climb on a list to land on an expulsion flight intended for El Salvador in March. And then a judicial depot of the Ministry of Justice Trump recognizing the error brought him to the national national level – leading to a difficult legal battle and a heated political debate.
Friday, the Trump administration announced that Greo Garcia, a national Salvadoran who had resided in Maryland until expelled At his country of origin, landed in the United States and faced criminal charges. It was an extraordinary development in a case that came to define the president’s hard online immigration policies of the president and a strike about the Trump administration, which had argued that it would not return to the United States.
At the start of the legal battle, almost three months ago, the two parties agreed that the deportation of Abrego Garcia to El Salvador – and the subsequent imprisonment in the country in the country notorious mega prison – was a mistake. In 2019, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia retained the dismissal, which means that he could not be sent back to Salvador for fear of persecution.
A senior official of the application of immigration and customs forces called its withdrawal an “administrative error” In a declaration from the March Court, seeming to mark the first time that the administration conceded an error on controversial flights to El Salvador who led to the detention of hundreds of migrants in Cecot prison.
But then, officials of the Trump administration publicly abandoned this post and called Abrego Garcia “terrorist” because they allege that he is a member of MS-13, which the United States has appointed as a terrorist organization. His lawyers and his family argue that he was not a member of MS-13 and argued that he was still right to regular procedure.
Here’s how Abrego Garcia’s affair took place in recent months.
Detained and expelled in mid-March
Abrego Garcia, who came to the United States illegally in 2012, first had a meeting with the immigration authorities in 2019 after an arrest. At the time, the government also argued that Greo Garcia was a member of a gang when he pleaded that he feared a possible return to Salvador.
The immigration judge presiding over the case arose on the side of Abrego Garcia and judged that he would not be expelled in Salvador.
Years later, on March 12, 2025, immigration and customs application arrested Abrego Garcia and arrested him, who came when the Trump administration continued its aggressive repression against immigration.
Abrego Garcia was then wrongly placed on an expulsion flight three days later and sent to Cecot.
Trump administration was needed to concedes that he expelled by mistake The father of Maryland in Salvador “due to an administrative error”. But while recognizing the error, the administration declared in court documents on March 31 that he could not return it because he was in police custody.
Later in the week, judge Paula Xinis of the Maryland American district court ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to the United States, launching a one-month legal battle in which the Trump administration argued that the courts could not intervene in decision-making in the United States.
In his order of April 4, Xinis gave a deadline of April 7 to bring back Abrego Garcia but the The Supreme Court interrupted the deadline. A few days later, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration had to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, but stopped forcing the government to return it.
In recent weeks, Xinis has accused the Trump administration of Guarantee of repeated stone And intentional non-compliance with its obligation to produce information related to the way it facilitated the return of Abrego Garcia.
President Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC News in April, admitted that he could get the return of Abrego Garciacontradict the previous remarks made by him and his best aid which said that the United States did not have the capacity to return Abrego Garcia because it was under the care of a foreign government.
When asked by Terry Moran from ABC why he can’t just get the phone and secure the return of Abrego Garcia, Trump said: “And if he was the gentleman that you say he is, I would. But he is not.” The president then accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the MS-13, pointing to His tattoosWhat experts say are not in themselves proof that he is a member of a gang.
And a few days later, the White House and the President of Salvador Nayib Bukele clearly made during an oval office meeting This Abrego Garcia would not have returned to the United States.
Democratic legislators criticized the way the Trump administration managed the Abrego Garcia case and continued to call to be brought back.
A Democratic senator, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, flew to El Salvador to meet his constituent. After initially being authorized to meet him, Van Hollen had a seated With Abrego Garcia on April 17 And at a press conference a day later, the senator said that Garcia Garcia told him he was traumatized.
“He said that he was not afraid of other prisoners in his immediate cell, but that he had been traumatized while being in Cecot and fearing many prisoners in other blocks of cells who called him and narcked him in various ways,” said Van Hollen.
Van Hollen added that Greo Garcia had been moved a week earlier from the maximum security prison to another detention center where “the conditions are better”.
The Trump administration criticized the senator’s visit, saying that the Democrats and the media have painted an overly pink image of Abrego Garcia.
Meanwhile, the administration continued to Representing him as a violent and dangerous criminalPublishing documents not previously shared from two interactions that Greo Garcia had with the police and the system of the courts: an arrest of 2019 which did not lead to accusations or a conviction, but led to his detention by immigration officials, and to an order of protection 2021, his wife has deposited against their domestic problems.
Rubio and Bukele were in contact with Abrego Garcia
Sources told CNN at the end of April that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been in contact with Bukele On the detention of Abrego Garcia.
An American official told CNN that the Trump administration worked closely with El Salvador and had asked for the return of Abrego Garcia, but insisted that Bukele had clearly indicated that he did not return him to the United States.
Bodycam Video of 2022 Stop Trafid
In early May, Tennessee State The police have published a video A traffic cessation in November 2022 involving Abrego Garcia – an incident that US officials support support their claims according to which Abrego Garcia was a member of MS -13 and involved in the trafficking in human beings.
The video has shown that Greo Garcia was arrested for speeding. Asked about the other passengers of the car, Abrego Garcia told the soldier that he and the others are workers who come back from a construction project in St. Louis, Missouri.
When the soldier asked for his documents, Abrego Garcia explains in the video that his driver’s license has been expired and that he is waiting for the immigration documents to renew him. He told the officer that the vehicle, who had a textbody from Texas, belonged to his boss.
The soldier then searches the car with a police canine. They seem to find nothing suspect, depending on the video.
Abrego Garcia was not arrested during the stop and no charge was deposited.
Friday release and charges
Almost three months after his expulsion, Abrego Garcia returned to the United States on Friday to face federal criminal charges.
Abrego Garcia was accused of two criminal counts In the District of the Tennessee middle: conspiracy to illegally transport illegal foreigners for financial purposes and illegal transport of illegal foreigners for financial purposes.
Trump administration officials highlighted the accusations as justifying their efforts to withdraw Abrego Garcia from the United States.
Meanwhile, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, lawyer for Abrego Garcia, accused the Trump administration of “playing games” with the legal system and said that his client should appear before an immigration court, not a criminal court.
“The government has disappeared kilmar in a foreign prison in violation of a court order. Now, after months late and secrecy, they bring it back, not to correct their error but to continue it.” A regular procedure means the possibility of defending you before being punished, not after. It is an abuse of power, not justice. ”
Abrego Garcia will be in detention for at least a week, followed by an indictment and detention hearing, the Associated Press reported.