A federal judge in Maryland has granted a preliminary injunction and ordered the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error, by Monday.
“I am going to grant the motion for preliminary injunction I’ve reviewed, and I’ll read this word for word, so that there is no dispute that the oral order is the written order,” said U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis at Firday’s hearing, making a reference to the Alien Enemies Act case in which the government failed to carry out another judge’s oral order.
“The two defendants are hereby ordered to facilitate the return of plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States by no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7, 2025,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego Garcia, despite having protected legal status, was sent to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador following an “administrative error” by the Trump administration.
The government has acknowledged the error but said in an earlier court filing that because Abrego Garcia was no longer in U.S. custody, the court cannot order him to be returned to the U.S., nor can the court order El Salvador to return him.
Last month, Abrego Garcia, who has a U.S. citizen wife and 5-year-old child, was stopped by ICE officers who “informed him that his immigration status had changed,” according to his attorneys. He was detained and then transferred to a detention center in Texas, after which he was sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, along with more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members, on March 15.
This undated photo provided by CASA, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
CASA via AP
Abrego Garcia entered the United States in 2011 when he was 16 to escape gang violence in El Salvador, according to his lawyers. His attorneys say that in 2019, a confidential informant “had advised that Abrego Garcia was an active member” of the gang MS-13. Abrego Garcia later filed an I-589 application for asylum, and although he was found removable, an immigration judge “granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador,” the attorneys said.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say that he “is not a member of or has no affiliation with Tren de Aragua, MS-13, or any other criminal or street gang” and said that the U.S. government “has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation.”
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — while acknowledging the government’s error in sending him to El Salvador — called Abrego Garcia a leader of MS-13.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt said.