OPINION: The Deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia

The father of a five-year-old child and husband to an American wife, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador at the Terrorism Confinement Center due to an “administrative error” made by the Trump Administration. The White House has little power to get the El Salvadoran government to release Mr. Abrego Garcia, and the United States federal courthouses have no authority to command his release.

The family of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (far right), a migrant deported back to El Salvador after being accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang

The Trump Administration attempts to employ the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which enables the US to deport persons who are originating from countries at war with the United States, specifically to deport immigrants originating from Venezuela who are allegedly involved in the street gang MS-13. Mr. Abrego Garcia has not been charged or convicted of being in a gang; and, in 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador as he may face torture. 

On March 15, 2025, under the act's legitimacy, two out of three aircrafts were dispatched to El Salvador. The third aircraft was to be occupied only by people with official deportation orders signed by a judge. This certain aircraft carried Mr. Abrego Garcia, and the Trump Administration acknowledges that this deportation as an “administrative error.” Trump representative Karoline Leavitt took the position at the briefing in the White House to defend Mr. Abrego Garcia's deportation based on the administration's proof that he was a part of the street gang MS-13. She used evidence that his wife had previously requested an order of protection against him and claimed that “he will never live in the United States of America.” However, any claim that he was a member of a gang has been denied by his attorneys. Mr. Abrego Garcia’s wife has filed a legal lawsuit against the Trump Administration, which has denied the request from the family which included to stop paying El Salvador for deportee detention until Mr. Abrego Garcia is brought back to the US. The Justice Department responded to the request by saying that the “request would harm the public interest by preventing the executive from implementing a unified course of conduct for the United States’ foreign affairs.”

Photo via CNN Politics

Despite the fact that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case does not directly correlate to the Alien Enemies Act, it shines light upon the concerns of the administration's application of the act on future migrants. The previously deported Venezuelans' attorneys have always maintained that their clients have been denied the chance to contest gang membership charges and that many of them have found themselves in the same Salvadoran jail with no power of challenging their situation. The United States Supreme Court has ordered the US government to “facilitate” Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return.

Yet, in a face-to-face meeting at the White House with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on April 14, Mr. Trump and Mr. Bukele seemed to vehemently agree that they would not bother with Mr. Garcia’s return. Mr. Bukele stated, “Of course I’m not going to do it.” Mr. Trump even went so far as to allude to the possibility of sending American citizens who are convicted of violent crimes directly to El Savador’s notorious mega prisons: “If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem, no…I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people.”

Chris Van Hollen, a U.S. Senator from Maryland, has traveled and met with Mr. Abrego Garcia in the mega-prison that he is being detained in. Yet the morning after the meeting, Trump was already ridiculing Van Hollen on social media for looking for attention. This case has widely proven the president’s intention to defy courts when he does not agree and proceed with deportation without any concern for due process allowed by law.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia meeting with Senator Chris Van Hollen (Image: X)