DHS Says It Would Deport Man Mistakenly Sent to El Salvador If He Returns to US

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland with his U.S. citizen wife and children, was deported to his native country in March.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia in a file photo. Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via Reuters

If Kilmar Abrego Garcia is able to return to the United States, U.S. officials would deport him to El Salvador again or another country, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said on April 15.

If Garcia makes it to a port of entry, “he would become subject to detention by DHS,” Joseph N. Mazzara, acting general counsel for DHS, wrote in a court filing. “In that case, DHS would take him into custody in the United States and either remove him to a third country or terminate his withholding of removal because of his membership in MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and remove him to El Salvador.”