State Department suggests deported Salvadoran man is beyond U.S. reach

The administration shows no sign of capitulating in its battle with judges who are pressuring President Trump to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. The State Department says the deportee is beyond America’s reach.

A top department official told a court this weekend that Mr. Abrego Garcia is “alive and secure” in a terrorist prison in El Salvador, where he is being held under the “sovereign, domestic authority” of that government.

A top official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Mr. Abrego Garcia is no longer immune from deportation to El Salvador. A judge said he should not have been sent back to that country.

That’s the most information the government has disclosed since Mr. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador nearly a month ago.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis chastised the government in a hearing Friday for being unable to say even where the man was.

“Where is he, and under whose authority?” she demanded.

“I do not have that information,” said Drew Ensign, the government’s new attorney on the case.

Judge Xinis seemed angered by that response and ordered daily updates from a government official aware of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s situation.

That job fell to Michael Kozak, a senior State Department official.

“It is my understanding, based on official reporting from our embassy in San Salvador, that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility,” Mr. Kozak said.

He added: “He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”

Mr. Abrego Garcia’s is one of a series of court cases testing Mr. Trump’s deportation powers. Federal judges in Texas and New York have put some deportations under the Alien Enemies Act on hold.

Other judges have delayed deportations of foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian activities.

Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case has become a major showdown between the president and the courts, which have been delivering severe resistance.

Judge Xinis, backed by a circuit court and, to some extent, the Supreme Court, has ordered the government to do what it can to bring him back.

Mr. Kozak’s statement to the court Saturday appeared to suggest that this is impossible because he is a Salvadoran citizen being held by that government.

Mr. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys insist the U.S. does have effective custody of him. They argue that American taxpayers are footing the bill for his detention and that he is being held at the U.S. government’s “direction.”

In a court filing Saturday, Jonathan Cooper, one of the attorneys, asked Judge Xinis to order American officials to go to the Salvadoran prison and escort Mr. Abrego Garcia “to the aircraft that will return him to the United States,” fly him back and parole him into the U.S.

“As a direct consequence of the government’s recalcitrance, Abrego Garcia continues to suffer irreparable harm from his illegal removal to a country where he faces persecution and gang violence and where he is being held at the United States’ behest,” Mr. Cooper said.

Earlier this month, the White House ruled out the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia. It said he is a dangerous member of the MS-13 gang, which the administration has declared a terrorist organization.

On Friday, Mr. Trump opened the door to the possibility of his return.

“If the Supreme Court said bring somebody back, I would do that. I respect the Supreme Court,” the president said.

The White House acknowledges that Mr. Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador. He was in the U.S. illegally and was ordered deported in 2019. The immigration judge ruled that he couldn’t be sent to El Salvador specifically because of the possibility of torture but could be sent elsewhere.

U.S. officials say Mr. Abrego Garcia was put on one of three planes that flew Salvadoran MS-13 and Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang members to El Salvador on March 15.

His family realized he had been deported only after seeing photos of him being hustled into the prison. They recognized him based on his tattoos and head scars.

Mr. Abrego Garcia denies being a member of MS-13.

In 2019, an immigration judge said he was likely a member of the gang based on a confidential source report to the Prince George’s County, Maryland, police department. The source identified Mr. Abrego Garcia by his gang nickname and rank within the gang.

Evan Katz, the ICE official, told the court Sunday that because MS-13 is now deemed a terrorist organization, the order to block him from being deported to El Salvador is not binding.

That defense had not been raised in the judge’s courtroom.

Judge Xinis called his arrest on March 12 “unconstitutional” and his deportation “unlawful.”

In Friday’s hearing, she set a new deadline for the government to “facilitate” Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return “as soon as possible.”

She also demanded to know what steps had been taken to do that.

Mr. Ensign said he had no information to reveal.

“That means they’ve done nothing,” Judge Xinis retorted.