Later in 2019, a U.S. immigration judge shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. The Trump administration deported him there anyway, later describing the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.

The U.S. State Department announced in an April 12 court filing that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is ‘alive and secure’ in an El Salvador prison — or ‘Terrorism Confinement Center’ — after the U.S. resident was mistakenly deported from Maryland in March.