 "Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the US legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, looks on during a press conference with other family members, supporters and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in Washington, DC, US, April 9, 2025. File Image/Reuters")
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Sunday confirmed to a federal judge that the wrongly deported Maryland man is confined in a notorious prison in El Salvador. However, the filing from the White House does not address the judge’s demand that the Trump administration share the steps it has taken to return the man home.
Kilmar Abrego García from Mayland was arrested by the authorities and was deported to El Salvador. In the latest filing White House confirmed that the man is under the authority of the government of the Latin American nation. The White House was represented in the court by Michael G Kozak, who identified himself in the filing as a “Senior Bureau Official” in the state department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.
The court filing came one day after a US government attorney struggled in a hearing Michael G Kozak, who identified himself in the filing as a “Senior Bureau Official” in the state department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Xinis then issued an order requiring the administration to disclose García’s “current physical location and custodial status” and “what steps, if any, Defendants have taken (and) will take, and when, to facilitate” his return.
‘He is alive and in a secure facility’: White House rep
In the latest filing, Kozak confirmed that Gracia is alive and in a secured facility. “It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego García is currently held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” Kozak’s statement said. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained under the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
However, the statement did not address the judge’s latter requirement. On Friday, the lack of clarity on the matter was condemned by Xinis. “Where is he and under whose authority?” the judge asked in the hearing. “I’m not asking for state secrets. All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: Where is he?”
The remarks from the judge came a day after the US Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the judge’s order to facilitate Abrego García’s return to the US, after Abrego García and his family filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of his summary deportation on 15 March.
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More ShortsIt is pertinent to note that Gracia has worked under a US work permit since 2019 but was stopped and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers on 12 March. He was questioned about his alleged gang affiliations and later deported to El Salvador.
Abrego García’s wife, US citizen Jennifer Vásquez Sura, has not been able to speak to him since he was flown to his native El Salvador last month and imprisoned. She has been staging demonstrations outside the court and has urged the family’s supporters to keep fighting.
With inputs from agencies.