A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to return a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s order directed the federal government to “facilitate and effectuate the return of … Garcia to the United States no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7, 2025.”
Xinis asked an attorney from the Department of Justice multiple questions during a hearing on April 4. DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni couldn’t tell the judge what authority the man—Kilmar Abrego Garcia—was arrested under.
Xinis said Abrego Garcia’s removal was an illegal act.
The White House has said that Abrego Garcia, 29, is an MS-13 gang member and that U.S. courts lack jurisdiction over the matter because the Salvadoran national is no longer in the United States.
Abrego Garcia was removed on March 15 as part of a series of flights that have drawn another lawsuit the Trump administration is fighting in Washington.
In a hearing on April 3, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg questioned another DOJ attorney on his knowledge of the flights in an effort to determine whether they occurred in defiance of an order he issued on March 15. Boasberg prohibited the administration from removing individuals pursuant to a proclamation Trump issued stating that members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang were removable under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
His order did not prohibit the administration from removing individuals under other authorities.
During the April 3 hearing, Boasberg referenced Abrego Garcia, stating that he showed the administration had wrongfully removed at least one person as part of the deportations.
He also suggested the administration had attempted to rush people out of the country before he could issue an order preventing such moves.
DOJ attorney Drew Ensign said the government complied with Boasberg’s orders. That case has made its way to the Supreme Court where acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris is asking the justices to block Boasberg’s orders.
Abrego-Garcia was removed “because of an administrative error,” DOJ lawyers said in a filing on March 31.
Abrego-Garcia illegally entered the United States around 2011 before settling in Maryland. Immigration officers in 2019 took him into custody.
An administrative judge determined that year that Abrego-Garcia was a member of MS-13 and denied his request for release, finding he posed a risk to the community. He was ordered deported later in 2019, but was also granted protection against removal to El Salvador because a different judge found Abrego-Garcia was likely to face danger if he were sent back there.
The federal government quickly filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on April 4.
In its March 31 filing, the DOJ said that Xinis lacked jurisdiction because Abrego Garcia was not in U.S. custody.
“Plaintiffs do not argue that the United States can exercise its will over a foreign sovereign,” DOJ said. “The most they ask for is a court order that the United States entreat—or even cajole—a close ally in its fight against transnational cartels.”
The department added that there was “no showing that El Salvador is even inclined to consider a request to release a detainee at the United States’ request.”
Abrego Garcia, the DOJ also said, was a danger to the community and, in light of that, “the balance of equities and the public interest tip against an injunction ordering Defendants to orchestrate his return to the United States.”
