Latest news with #Salvadoran
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Politics
- Newsweek
Kilmar Abrego Garcia Scores Major Legal Win
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man at the center of a long-running legal and political controversy over U.S. immigration enforcement, must be released from custody and returned to Maryland, two federal judges ruled Wednesday in separate decisions. The decisions come after months of legal battles following Abrego's controversial removal to El Salvador in March, a deportation that the U.S. Supreme Court later determined to be unlawful. Late on Wednesday, in a third ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes delayed Abrego's release from custody for 30 days, following a request from his attorneys. They cited government advice that the Department of Homeland Security would begin removal proceedings if he were released. Newsweek approached the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice for comment. Why It Matters The orders from U.S. District Judges Waverly Crenshaw Jr. and Paula Xinis mark a significant turning point in the case. The orders are the latest developments in a high-profile saga involving immigration, criminal proceedings, and alleged violations of constitutional rights. While the decisions represent a significant legal victory for Abrego, federal immigration authorities have signaled that efforts to deport him may soon resume. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is seen in a courtroom sketch sitting in court during his detention hearing on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn Kilmar Abrego Garcia is seen in a courtroom sketch sitting in court during his detention hearing on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn Diego Fishburn via AP What To Know Abrego, who entered the U.S. without authorization over a decade ago, was living and working in Maryland under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) supervision order when he was detained and deported to El Salvador on March 12, 2025. The deportation directly violated a standing immigration court order from 2019 that prohibited his removal to El Salvador due to credible fears for his safety there. After being expelled, Abrego was held at El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, a prison known for violence and overcrowding. His removal prompted legal challenges that reached the Supreme Court, which found the deportation violated both the Immigration and Nationality Act and Abrego's constitutional right to due process. Following the ruling, the federal government delayed for nearly three months before returning Abrego to the U.S. in June. Upon arrival, he was placed in U.S. Marshals custody to face unrelated criminal charges in Tennessee. On Wednesday, Judge Crenshaw, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled that Abrego should be released on bail while awaiting trial in the Middle District of Tennessee, finding that prosecutors had not demonstrated that he posed a flight risk or danger to the community. Crenshaw noted that although the government accused Abrego of immigrant smuggling involving a minor, he had been cooperative when stopped by law enforcement in 2022 and had not attempted to flee. Judge Xinis, acting in a civil case brought by Abrego and his family over his deportation, ruled to both restore Abrego to his pre-deportation immigration status and protect his due process rights if officials attempt to remove him from the U.S. again. Her ruling criticized government attorneys and ICE officials for failing to prepare adequately for court proceedings and for offering limited details about possible third-country removal options. The court noted that although DHS has existing diplomatic agreements with countries like Mexico and South Sudan to accept deportees, no specific plans had been confirmed for Abrego. Nor had federal officials explained what process would be available to him in the event of a third-country removal. The court's ruling underscores that any further attempts to remove Abrego must begin in Maryland, where jurisdiction over his original immigration case lies. Officials had previously indicated that any removal proceedings could be initiated wherever ICE found space to detain him, raising concerns about due process and judicial oversight. Tennessee U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes has delayed the release of alleged MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia from custody for thirty days. His attorneys requested the delay on Monday, citing advice from the government that the Department of Homeland Security would initiate removal proceedings if he were released. What People Are Saying U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. in Tennessee, said in his ruling: "It is not difficult to see why one might seek to avoid ICE after experiencing what Abrego did in recent months," adding that is was "pure speculation" on the government's argument that Abrego would flee to avoid ICE highlighting that it was the government itself that had created the circumstances now cited as justification for detention. While U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland said: "The requested relief is necessary not only to fulfill this Court's prior order, but also to provide the kind of effective relief to which a wrongfully removed alien is entitled upon return," emphasizing that the action was necessary to restore the "status quo ante"—Abrego's legal standing before his unlawful deportation. Tennessee U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes said: "Abrego shall therefore remain in the custody of the United States Marshal pending further order, as previously directed." Despite these rulings, Tricia McLaughlin from the Department of Homeland Security said: ""He [Abrego] will never walk America's streets again." What Happens Next Despite the rulings, Abrego's legal battles may be far from over. While the courts have ordered his return to Maryland and implemented safeguards against sudden deportation, immigration authorities have maintained their intent to pursue removal. As the case moves forward, it remains a focal point in the broader national conversation over immigration enforcement, executive power, and the limits of constitutional protections for noncitizens.
Atlantic
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
No One Was Supposed to Leave Alive
One night in mid-May, some of the Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States to a prison in El Salvador tried to break the locks on their cells with metal rails from their beds. It was a futile gesture of rebellion; no one thought they could escape. Still, punishment was swift. For six consecutive days, the inmates were subjected to lengthy beatings, three inmates told me. On the last day, male guards brought in their female colleagues, who struck the naked prisoners as the male guards recorded videos on their phones and laughed. The female guards would count to 20 as they administered the beatings, and if the prisoners complained or cried out, they would start again. Tito Martínez, one of the inmates, recalled that a prison nurse was watching. 'Hit the piñata,' she cheered. When the government of El Salvador opened the prison complex known as CECOT in 2023, the country's security minister said the inmates would only be able to get out ' inside a coffin.' This promise has largely been kept. The Salvadoran human-rights organization Cristosal has documented cases of prisoners being transported out of the jail for urgent medical care, but these inmates died soon after, before anyone could ask them what it was like inside the prison. What little is known about life in CECOT (the Spanish acronym for Terrorism Confinement Center) comes from the media tours staged by President Nayib Bukele, which show men crammed into cells with bare-metal bunkbeds stacked to the ceiling like human shelving. In most of the videos posted online, the men—some with the facial tattoos of the country's gangs—stand in silence. The Salvadoran government has encouraged CECOT's terrifying reputation, turning the prison into a museum where Bukele's tough-on-gangs tactics can be exhibited for the press. But media visits are also strictly controlled. Interviews with prisoners are rare and tightly supervised. On Friday, for the first time, a group of prisoners walked out of CECOT's gates as free men. They were 252 of the Venezuelans that the Trump administration had deported to El Salvador in March when it alleged—while offering little to no evidence—that they were gang members. This month, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro negotiated a prisoner swap with the United States, releasing 10 American citizens in his custody and dozens of Venezuelan political prisoners. In return, the Venezuelans in El Salvador were put on a plane and sent to Caracas. They brought with them detailed accounts of beatings and harsh treatment. (The government of El Salvador did not respond to a request for comment about their claims.) Four former prisoners told me they were punched, kicked, and struck with clubs. They were cut off from contact with their families, deprived of legal help, and taunted by guards. All recalled days spent in a punishment cell known as 'the island,' a dark room with no water where they slept on the floor. Those days, the only light they could see came from a dim lightbulb in the ceiling that illuminated a cross. I talked with Keider Alexander Flores over the phone yesterday, just a few hours after Venezuelan police officers dropped him off at his mother's house in Caracas. Flores told me that he and his brother left Venezuela in 2023, trekking through the jungles of Panama's Darién Gap and riding buses all the way to Mexico. They applied for an appointment to cross into the United States legally and arrived in Texas in August. Flores soon settled in Dallas and started an asylum application, but he didn't complete the process. He found work laying carpet. His real passion was music: He DJed under the name Keyder Flower. In one of his Instagram posts, he flexes his teenage muscles as he plays tracks by a pool. From the September 2024 issue: Seventy miles in hell In December, after a DJ gig at a house party in Dallas, Flores was riding in the passenger seat of a friend's car when they were pulled over. Flores told me they had smoked marijuana, and the police took them to the station. Later he was sent to ICE detention. At an immigration hearing, the judge told him that he wouldn't be able to return to the United States for 10 years, because he had broken U.S. law. When asked what country he wanted to be deported to, Flores said Venezuela. While in ICE detention, Flores learned that he had been flagged as 'an active member' of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Federal agents showed up to interview him, he said. They had seen his pictures on Instagram and said his hand signals looked suspicious. 'I was doing a cool sign, but they said it was a gesture of Tren de Aragua,' Flores told me. Flores knew about CECOT. He had seen videos at the ICE detention center in Texas, where the TV sometimes showed cable news. In mid-March, he called his brother from detention to say that he was about to get deported to Venezuela; two days later, he was put on a plane. ICE guards didn't let the passengers open the window shades during the flight. Flores and his fellow detainees found out they were in El Salvador only after they had landed. Another newly released Venezuelan prisoner I spoke with, Juan José Ramos, told me he'd entered the United States legally, with an appointment for an asylum hearing, and had barely settled down in Utah when ICE agents stopped his car on the way to Walmart, arresting him with no explanation. He said that when the men arrived at CECOT, they saw inmates wearing white T-shirts and shorts, heads completely shaved. Ramos asked a Salvadoran guard who these men were and why they were crying. The guard replied: 'That's you. All of you will end up like that. We will treat you all the same.' Flores, Ramos, and others I spoke with shared similar accounts of what happened next. The Venezuelans were taken to a wing of CECOT known as Module 8, with 32 cells, and didn't interact with the rest of the prisoners. The inmates communicated with one another via hand signals, because when they spoke, they were beaten. They slept on metal bunks, often without mattresses. Soap and juice bottles were luxuries afforded prior to visits by representatives of the Red Cross, who came twice during their four-month stay. Sometimes, the guards gave the prisoners better meals than usual, took pictures with their phones, then took the food away, Ramos, Flores, and others told me. A riot broke out in April, after guards beat one of the inmates to the point that he started convulsing, Flores told me. The incident convinced the Venezuelans that they had to do something. 'If your friend was being beaten, would you leave him alone as they beat him?' Flores asked me. Adam Serwer: Trump's Salvadoran Gulag Seven of the Venezuelans arrived days after the rest, deported from Guantánamo, where a hunger strike had broken out. They suggested doing the same at CECOT. Flores, Ramos, and others I spoke with said every inmate they knew joined the hunger strike, which lasted for several days. Some took their protest further by cutting themselves on the corners of their metal bunks. They called that a huelga de sangre: 'blood strike.' Three or four days after the strike started, two prison directors came to negotiate. The inmates agreed to end the strike in exchange for an assurance that the beatings would stop. 'They let us live for a while,' Flores told me. But in mid-May, when a few inmates refused to have their cells inspected, the guards beat them. That's when a second riot broke out. The guards responded by shooting the inmates with pellets. Then came the six days of beatings. Martínez, 26, told me he was pulled over while driving in El Paso, Texas, in February because his license plate had expired. The officer was ready to let him go with a warning, but asked Martínez to remove his shirt. Martínez had tattoos of Bible verses and the name of his wife. The officer called ICE. Martínez, who fell ill after the hunger strike, had to be taken to a clinic, where a nurse told him he had suffered serious liver damage. After the beatings, Martínez told me, some inmates vomited blood, and others couldn't walk for days. 'If they're going to kill us, I hope they kill us soon,' he said he told himself. The guards told him he would spend the rest of his life in CECOT. Until early Friday morning, when Martínez was sent home as abruptly as he'd arrived, he had believed them.
UPI
16 hours ago
- Politics
- UPI
Judge temporarily pauses Abrego Garcia's release from custody
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, on April 17 speaks with his Maryland constituent, Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a Salvadoran immigrant deported to El Salvador. File Photo by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele | License Photo July 23 (UPI) -- A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily paused Kilmer Abrego Garcia's release from criminal custody after two judges earlier in the day ruled the accused MS-13 gang member should return to his home in Baltimore awaiting trial. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living legally in the United States since 2019, was deported in March to a notorious prison in El Salvador because of an "administrative error." In June, he was brought to Tennessee on two criminal charges of human smuggling. He pleaded not guilty. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holles, who serves in the Middle District of Tennessee, determined that Abrego Garcia should remain in federal custody for 30 days "pending further order." Magistrates are named by the court's district judges. Both sides sought the pause -- the federal government an opportunity to appeal and his legal team to seek further court relief. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville and Paula Ixis in Maryland had blocked the government from detaining and deporting after release from criminal custody. President Barack Obama appointed both judges. Crenshaw ruled the government "fails to provide any evidence that there is something in Abrego's history, or his exhibited characteristics, that warrants detention." He said: "For the Court to find that Abrego is a member of or in affiliation with MS13, it would have to make so many inferences from the Government's proffered evidence in its favor that such conclusion would border on fanciful." Minutes later, Ixis ordered the government not to take him into immigration custody once released from criminal detention. He must be under Immigration and Customs Enforcement supervision in Maryland, she ruled. And if there are third-party proceedings, Abrego and his counsel must be given 72 "business hours" notice, the judge ruled. After the earlier rulings, Homeland Security Assistand Security Assisrant Secretary said in a statement to NBC News: "The facts remain, this MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien will never walk America's streets again. The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest someone who is subject to immigration arrest under federal law is insane." "These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government's lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar's due process rights," Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, said in a statement to CNN. "After the government unlawfully deported him once without warning, this legal protection is essential." Last week, Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, described him as a "horrible human being and a monster, and he should never be released free." She said: He has a lifetime history of trafficking individuals and of taking advantage of minors, soliciting pornography from them, nude photos of them, abusing his wife, abusing other illegals, aliens that were in this country, women that were under his care while he was trafficking them." In the indictment, Abrego Garcia and others are accused of participating in a conspiracy in which they "knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States, and many of whom were MS-13 members and associates." The allegations from 2016 to this year involve a half-dozen alleged unnamed co-conspirators. Abrego Garcia and others worked to move undocumented aliens between Texas and Maryland and other states more than 100 times, according to the indictment. In November 2022, Abrego Garcia is accused of driving a Chevrolet Suburban and was pulled over on a interstate highway in Tennessee with nine other Hispanic men without identification or luggage. Prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia transported narcotics to Maryland, though he wasn't previously charged with any crimes. These allegations were not made public after March 15 when Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison. He later went to another prison in El Salvador. On June 10, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of him from El Salvador after a ruling by Xinis. Earlier this month, a lawyer for DOJ said in federal court he would be deported, but not to El Salvador -- if he is released from criminal custody. Abrego Garcia, 30, is married to a U.S. citizen and has three children.
Straits Times
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Wrongly deported migrant Abrego scores legal wins, but remains behind bars
FILE PHOTO: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT./File Photo WASHINGTON - Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador made him a symbol of President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies, won two key victories in U.S. courts on Wednesday but will remain behind bars on human smuggling charges for now. In dual rebukes to the Trump administration after Abrego was brought back to the U.S. to face the charges, one federal judge ruled that he must be released on bail, and another ruled that authorities must give his lawyers three days' notice before they try to deport him again to a different country. 'These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government's lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar's due process rights," Abrego's lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said in a statement. Still, Abrego will remain in criminal custody in Tennessee for at least 30 days. His lawyers, while pushing for his release on bail, had asked that any such order be delayed given the risk that immigration authorities could swiftly detain and deport him upon his exit from jail. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement accused Abrego of being a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 and said he "will never walk America's streets again." Abrego denies being part of the gang. Abrego, 29, a Salvadoran migrant who had been living in Maryland, was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador in March despite a 2019 judicial ruling that he could not be sent there because of a risk of gang persecution. That prompted Trump's critics to argue that his administration was infringing on legal rights as it moved aggressively to deport millions of migrants living illegally in the U.S. Abrego then challenged that deportation in a civil lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. The U.S. Supreme Court in April upheld Xinis' order that the administration facilitate Abrego's return. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Judge asks prosecution for more information on Kpods in first case involving etomidate-laced vapes World In landmark opinion, World Court says countries must address climate change threat Singapore 5 teens arrested for threatening boy with knife, 2 charged with causing hurt Singapore Male victim of fatal Toa Payoh fire was known to keep many things, say residents Sport Bukayo Saka the difference as Arsenal beat AC Milan at National Stadium Singapore HDB launches 10,209 BTO and balance flats, as priority scheme for singles kicks in Singapore Over 1.15 million Singaporeans aged 21 to 59 have claimed SG60 vouchers Singapore Cyclist charged after allegedly hitting elderly pedestrian, killing him In June, U.S. officials brought Abrego back to the U.S. after securing an indictment accusing him of transporting migrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a smuggling ring. Abrego has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been held in criminal custody in Tennessee since his return. His lawyers have accused the Trump administration of bringing the charges to cover up violations of his rights. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee last month granted Abrego's request to be released ahead of his trial. But Abrego's lawyers later asked Holmes not to release Abrego right away, citing the risk he would be detained and deported to a country other than El Salvador. Federal prosecutors challenged Holmes' ruling. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw rejected that challenge, writing that prosecutors had not shown sufficient evidence that Abrego posed a public safety threat or was a flight risk to justify his continued detention ahead of trial. But he said the government was entitled to another hearing over whether to detain Abrego due to their allegation that he sometimes transported children. After Crenshaw's order on Wednesday, Holmes said she would delay her order for release by at least 30 days. In a simultaneous decision on Wednesday, Xinis ruled that if Abrego is released from criminal custody, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not detain him in Tennessee. She also ruled that his immigration case must be returned to Maryland, and that he must be notified at least three days before any deportation to a third country. On Xinis' ruling, McLaughlin said, "The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest someone who is subject to immigration arrest under federal law is insane." Xinis' order did not bar immigration authorities in Maryland from taking him into custody. REUTERS
Mint
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Wrongly deported migrant Abrego scores legal wins, but remains behind bars
By Andrew Goudsward and Luc Cohen WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Kilmar Abrego, the migrant whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador made him a symbol of President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration policies, won two key victories in U.S. courts on Wednesday but will remain behind bars on human smuggling charges for now. In dual rebukes to the Trump administration after Abrego was brought back to the U.S. to face the charges, one federal judge ruled that he must be released on bail, and another ruled that authorities must give his lawyers three days' notice before they try to deport him again to a different country. 'These rulings are a powerful rebuke of the government's lawless conduct and a critical safeguard for Kilmar's due process rights," Abrego's lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said in a statement. Still, Abrego will remain in criminal custody in Tennessee for at least 30 days. His lawyers, while pushing for his release on bail, had asked that any such order be delayed given the risk that immigration authorities could swiftly detain and deport him upon his exit from jail. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in a statement accused Abrego of being a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13 and said he "will never walk America's streets again." Abrego denies being part of the gang. Abrego, 29, a Salvadoran migrant who had been living in Maryland, was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador in March despite a 2019 judicial ruling that he could not be sent there because of a risk of gang persecution. That prompted Trump's critics to argue that his administration was infringing on legal rights as it moved aggressively to deport millions of migrants living illegally in the U.S. Abrego then challenged that deportation in a civil lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland. The U.S. Supreme Court in April upheld Xinis' order that the administration facilitate Abrego's return. In June, U.S. officials brought Abrego back to the U.S. after securing an indictment accusing him of transporting migrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a smuggling ring. Abrego has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been held in criminal custody in Tennessee since his return. His lawyers have accused the Trump administration of bringing the charges to cover up violations of his rights. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee last month granted Abrego's request to be released ahead of his trial. But Abrego's lawyers later asked Holmes not to release Abrego right away, citing the risk he would be detained and deported to a country other than El Salvador. Federal prosecutors challenged Holmes' ruling. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw rejected that challenge, writing that prosecutors had not shown sufficient evidence that Abrego posed a public safety threat or was a flight risk to justify his continued detention ahead of trial. But he said the government was entitled to another hearing over whether to detain Abrego due to their allegation that he sometimes transported children. After Crenshaw's order on Wednesday, Holmes said she would delay her order for release by at least 30 days. In a simultaneous decision on Wednesday, Xinis ruled that if Abrego is released from criminal custody, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not detain him in Tennessee. She also ruled that his immigration case must be returned to Maryland, and that he must be notified at least three days before any deportation to a third country. On Xinis' ruling, McLaughlin said, "The fact this unhinged judge is trying to tell ICE they can't arrest someone who is subject to immigration arrest under federal law is insane." Xinis' order did not bar immigration authorities in Maryland from taking him into custody. (Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe, Jack Queen, Ted Hesson and Luc Cohen; Editing by Deepa Babington and Noeleen Walder)
