US judge to question Trump officials’ refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia[html]
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)2025-04-15T18:36:55Z
A federal judge in Maryland is expected to question the Trump administration Tuesday about data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-white-house-el-salvador-kilmar-abrego-garcia-ad338d6b4558a6aba80e8290fd3eece9">its continued refusal to retrieve data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-abrego-garcia-e1b2af6528f915a1f0ec60f9a1c73cdd">Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison, even after the Supreme Court data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-maryland-deportation-trump-9f46dd62890befdc321ed1ab56107470">ordered his return to the U.S.
The 4 p.m. hearing in a U.S. District Court data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-white-house-el-salvador-kilmar-abrego-garcia-ad338d6b4558a6aba80e8290fd3eece9">comes a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country. The president of El Salvador also said Monday that he would not return Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”
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This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP)
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This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (CASA via AP)
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Abrego Garcia, 29, data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-c21e54f77c1e6716e2998c2463f6650b">lived in the U.S. for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.
A U.S. immigration judge had shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. He also was given a federal permit to work in the United States, according to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers.
But the Trump administration expelled Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month anyway. Administration officials later data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-error-818a0fa1218de714448edcb5be1f7347">described the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisted that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 in the U.S.
Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations, according to court records. The accusation stems from 2019, when Maryland police arrested Abrego Garcia while he was looking for work as a day laborer outside a Home Depot.
The allegation was based on Abergo Garcia wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and the word of a criminal informant who worked with police in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, court records state.
Abergo Garcia’s attorneys have pointed out the criminal informant alleged he was a member of MS-13 in Long Island, New York, where Abrego Garcia has never lived.
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This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)
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This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)
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In this undated photo provided by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in April 2025, a man identified by Jennifer Vasquez Sura as her husband, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, is forced to sit with other prisoners by guards in the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland via AP)
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