Salvadoran Father Wrongfully Deported to Bukele's Notorious Mega-Prison

A Salvadoran father living in Maryland was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and is currently held in the infamous mega-prison under Nayib Bukele's regime. This incident, acknowledged by the Trump administration in a recent court filing referenced by The Atlantic, has raised significant concerns.

Kilmar Ábrego García, who fled gang violence by moving to the United States in 2011, had been granted a deportation suspension in 2019 due to the high risk of violence if he returned to his home country. Married to a U.S. citizen and father to a five-year-old child with a disability, Ábrego García has no criminal record and was working as an apprentice at a metalworking company in Maryland.

On March 12, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained him, citing a change in his immigration status. Within days, he was placed as a substitute on a deportation flight to El Salvador, despite the flight manifest lacking any indication of his protected status. Consequently, he was transferred to the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), a prison emblematic of Bukele's "iron fist" strategy.

U.S. officials admitted the deportation was an oversight due to an "administrative error." However, government lawyers argue that courts lack the jurisdiction to mandate his return, given his current custody under the Salvadoran government. "They assert the court lacks the authority to grant any relief," stated Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Ábrego García's attorney. "If this holds true, immigration laws are meaningless."

The Salvadoran's family, who have not communicated with him since his deportation, identified him in photos shared by Bukele on social media. The images depict him with his head bowed, being escorted by hooded guards in CECOT, alongside other alleged gang members. Despite ICE's claims that Ábrego García is part of MS-13, his defense argues that this accusation is weak, based on uncorroborated testimony from a 2019 arrest, which was dismissed by local police. Nonetheless, the government used this claim as grounds for his deportation.

The case has alarmed immigration rights advocates, who fear it might be a deliberate tactic to bypass judicial oversight. "They believe going through the immigration judge process is too time-consuming and worry about losing cases," Sandoval-Moshenberg noted.

The Atlantic reported that the Trump administration invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify mass deportation flights, including two planes with Venezuelans and another with Salvadorans, deported on March 15. Meanwhile, El Salvador's government has politically leveraged the arrival of these deportees. Bukele mockingly commented "Oops!" following the release of images of the CECOT operation.

As of now, neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security has responded to requests for comments. Meanwhile, Ábrego García's family remains anxious for answers, fearing for his safety in one of the continent's harshest prisons.

Deportations and Trump-Bukele Relations

Ábrego García's case unfolds amid a migration crackdown by the Trump administration, which has started mass deportations of alleged Salvadoran and Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, deemed by experts as one of Latin America's harshest facilities. Bukele defended accepting these deportees as part of his fight against international crime. In a recent tweet, Trump sarcastically praised and thanked the Salvadoran president, calling CECOT a "wonderful place to live."

The upcoming meeting between the two leaders in Washington has sparked controversy, given the rising human rights abuse allegations within El Salvador's prison system and the political use of deportations. The security cooperation between both governments has drawn criticism from human rights advocates, warning of the misuse of the "terrorist" label to justify detentions without due process and deportations like that of Ábrego García.