An American judge ordered, this Thursday (11), the release of Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia pending a second expulsion – the first, carried out in error by the government of Donald Trump, has become a symbol of the Republican president’s repression of immigration.
The Salvadoran was arrested in March 2025 by agents of ICE, the US immigration service, while driving with his son in the state of Maryland. Three days later, without notice, court proceedings or a hearing, he was deported to El Salvador – the country he had fled as a teenager due to gang violence. The expulsion took place despite an existing court order prohibiting their expulsion from the United States.
The government later admitted that this episode was the result of an administrative error, and Garcia was returned to the United States in June and detained pending trial in the case. In August he was released, only to be arrested again three days later.
Born in 1995 in San Salvador, Garcia grew up in a neighborhood controlled by the Barrio 18 faction and fled to the United States in 2011, at the age of 16, after being threatened by the criminal group. While at Maryland, he began working in construction and began a new life.
In 2016, he met Jennifer Stefania Vasquez Sura, an American citizen whom he married three years later. The couple had a son, born in the United States, and together they are also raising Jennifer’s two children from a previous relationship, both of whom have disabilities.
In 2019, he was arrested in a parking lot while looking for work as a day laborer. A man accused him of being a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, but the accusation was not proven and he was never charged with any crime.
Despite this, the government continued with the expulsion process, based on weak arguments, such as information provided by a police officer later suspended for misconduct.
A judge, however, recognized that his life was in danger if he returned to El Salvador and granted him “continued removal” status, a legal protection that allowed him to live and work in the United States, but without the right to permanent residency.
Despite this protection, the 2025 expulsion took place summarily and without legal support. García’s defense claims he never had problems with the courts after gaining legal status, only maintaining mandatory contact with ICE.
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