How man was ‘accidentally’ deported to mega prison by Trump administration as wife breaks silence with sad statement
Earlier this week, the Trump administration admitted to 'mistakenly' deporting Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father with legal status, to El Salvador.
The major mistake was raised after Abrego Garcia's wife identified him in a photograph of detainees entering intake at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) - El Salvador's notorious maximum security prison.
But, how did such an error even happen in the first place?
Trump on deportation
Prior to his January inauguration, Trump announced plans to embark on the 'largest deportation programme in history', vowing to deport 'maybe as many as 20 million' people.
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"We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came," he added.
Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the presidential role, also elaborated by revealing that migrants accused of crimes would be the first targets of the policy.
What happened to Abrego Garcia?
Now, Abrego Garcia fled hostility in his home country of El Salvador over a decade ago, starting a new life in the United States.
He was granted protected status by an immigration judge in 2019 - prohibiting the government from sending him back - and moved to Maryland, where he met and married Jennifer Vasquez Sura, an American citizen.
The two are also parents to their five-year-old disabled son.
This order appeared to have been missed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when the Salvadoran national, in mid-March, he was put on a plane to his home country headed for CECOT prison.
Why was Abrego Garcia deported?
A senior ICE official later claimed in a court declaration that decision to arrest and subsequently deport Abrego Garcia was 'due to his prominent role in MS-13'.
MS-13 - originally known as the Mara Salvatrucha - is an international criminal gang, originally set up in the 80s to protect Salvadoran immigrants from Los Angeles criminal groups.
The move separated Abrego Garcia from his US citizen wife and his young son, according to court filings.
Abrego Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, has insisted that he’s not a member of nor has any ties to the gang in question, and has no criminal record in the US.
What did the Trump administration do?
In a court ruling filed on Monday (31 March), the Trump administration was forced to hold their hands up to the blunder, which saw him incarcerated at the notoriously dangerous facility.
"On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error," the Trump administration filing read.
Robert Cerna, an acting ICE field office director, went on to explain: "Abrego-Garcia was not on the initial manifest of the Title 8 flight to be removed to El Salvador. Rather, he was an alternate.
"As others were removed from the flight for various reasons, he moved up the list and was assigned to the flight. The manifest did not indicate that Abrego-Garcia should not be removed."
An 'oversight'
Cerna added: "Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador.
"This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia’s purported membership in MS-13."
It is understood that Trump's team are now at the centre of a high-stakes legal battle, as per The Atlantic.
The administration claimed that Abrego Garcia - who works full time as a union sheetmetal apprentice - couldn't return to the States, being that he's now being held in Salvadoran custody.
Representatives also advised the court to dismiss the return request on multiple grounds, alleging the president's 'primacy in foreign affairs' outweighs the father's case.
Responding to this, Sandoval-Moshenberg told the publication: "They claim that the court is powerless to order any relief.
"If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless - all of them - because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done."
What has Abrego Garcia's wife said?
Following the ruling, Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Stefania Vasquez Sura, has spoken out after identifying him in a photograph of detainees entering intake at CECOT.
Admitting she and her son are 'very scared' about his safety, she told CBS News: "I've seen news of that prison, and I know they take criminals there.
"And my husband’s not a criminal."
Reflecting on the moment, she realised her husband had been removed from a US detention centre and flown overseas after failing to receive a phone call from him for several days.
"He never called," Sura continued. "I waited and waited. He never made that call."
"When I saw it [the photo of him at the facility], I immediately broke down ‘cause I knew it was him. I was scared for his life."
The mother-of-one went on to add: "He’s not a criminal. My husband is an amazing person. An amazing father," she said.
Topics: Crime, Donald Trump, Politics, US News, World News
Rhiannon Ingle