Kilmar Abrego Garcia describes ‘severe beatings' and ‘psychological torture' in Salvadoran prison
Abrego's account of physical and psychological torture stands in stark contrast to the portrayal by the Trump administration and Bukele, who posted a photo of what he claimed was Abrego having 'margaritas' with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), after the senator secured a meeting with Abrego in April. (Van Hollen has since said the margaritas were staged by Salvadoran officials). The Trump administration told a federal judge in May, after Abrego had been moved out of CECOT to another prison, that he was 'in good health' and had 'gained weight.'
But Abrego said he lost 31 pounds at CECOT in his first two weeks there. And he reported witnessing and suffering harrowing violence and abuse.
Abrego's lawyers presented his account in a 40-page proposed amendment to a lawsuit over his deportation. Spokespeople for the White House and for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Abrego's new claims.
Abrego allegedly entered the U.S. illegally around 2011 and had lived in Maryland for more than a decade when the Trump administration deported him. The deportation violated a 2019 order from an immigration judge who barred the U.S. from sending Abrego to El Salvador because he faced a danger of gang violence there. The Supreme Court noted that the deportation was 'illegal' after a Justice Department lawyer admitted that the deportation had been a mistake.
'Whoever enters here doesn't leave'
In the new court filing, Abrego described being the first person off an airplane in El Salvador after the Trump administration flew him there with more than 200 men on March 15. He recalled bright lights illuminating the airfield and cameras trained on him while officials forcefully guided him — shackled in chains — to a bus. The next day, Bukele triumphantly circulated cinematically edited videos of the deportees being handed over to Salvadoran authorities.
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