A federal judge ruled that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia must be brought back to the U.S. after being mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
On Friday, April 4, Judge Paula Xinis of the U.S. District Court in Maryland directed the federal government to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. by Monday, April 7, at 11:59 p.m.
The ruling follows the Trump administration’s admission that it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father of three, “because of an administrative error,” per a Monday, March 31 court document obtained by PEOPLE. The administration said it doesn’t have the jurisdiction to bring Abrego Garcia, an El Salvador native, back because he is in Salvadoran custody.
Xinis said in her ruling that Abrego Garcia, 29, was apprehended last month “without legal basis” and deported “without justification of legal basis,” per CNN.
“This was an illegal act,” Xinis said. “Congress said you can’t do it, and you did it anyway.”
Abrego Garcia, an immigrant who fled gang violence in El Salvador as a teenager and earned legal protected status in the U.S., was detained in Texas after he was stopped by ICE on March 12. He has not been able to contact his family since he was deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison on March 15. He was falsely told that “his immigration status had changed,” according to court documents filed on March 31.
Abrego Garcia was previously granted a protected status in 2011, “based on concerns that he could be persecuted by gangs” if he were to return to El Salvador, CBS Mornings reports. The outlet noted that he “had some traffic violations” but “no criminal record in the U.S.”
During Friday’s hearing, Xinis said she had seen no evidence to support Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to the MS-13 gang.
“When someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding that has robust process so we can assess the facts,” Xinis said.
The day Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — a law that has only ever been used during wartime — as a legally shaky justification to detain and deport non-citizens.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Following the Friday ruling, Abrego Garcia’s wife and attorney spoke at a news conference outside the courthouse. His wife, Jennifer, said that she will “continue fighting for Kilmar,” per CNN.
Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, is concerned the government will not “abide by that order.”
“They do not need to appeal this decision. They do not need to seek a stay. They should simply obey the judge’s order, bring him back to the United States by Monday,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
He later told CNN, “I don’t see how they can even plausibly argue that there’s no capacity to bring someone back,” citing the return of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from the El Salvador prison. Noem recently made a controversial visit to the CECOT mega-prison for social media content and posed in front of a cell full of prisoners.
According to ABC News, the Justice Department filed a notice of appeal, indicating they plan to appeal the ruling.
Read the full article here