Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in this handout image obtained March 31, 2025. Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
Salvadoran prison guards escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the US government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison (Picture: Reuters)
The Trump administration has admitted to mistakenly deporting a father to El Salvador’s infamous mega prison, and claims it is unable to bring him back into the US.
Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia was granted protected status by a US immigration judge in 2019 and was living in Maryland. On March 12, as he picked up his son after work, Abrego Garcia’s car was stopped by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who told him his protected status had changed.
Three days later, Abrego Garcia was one of more 200 alleged members of Salvadoran and Venezuelan gangs that the Trump administration deported by plane to El Salvador’s Terrorism confinement Center.
But a court filing on Monday, lawyers with the US government acknowledged that sending Abrego Garcia there had been a mistake.
‘Although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,’ wrote the government in the filing obtained by The Atlantic.
Since the dad is in Salvadoran custody, Trump administration lawyers said they are not able to get him back.
‘Oopsie… Too late,’ wrote Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on X (formerly Twitter) on the morning of March 16.
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