WASHINGTON — A representative with the United States Department of State told a judge Saturday afternoon, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is “alive and secure” in a facility in El Salavador.
In a status report filed to the court, Michael Kozak the Senior Bureau Official in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of State reported that he spoke with other State Department employees and they confirmed with the embassy that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.
WUSA9 reached out to Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, for more information and he replied, “We are incredulous. Twenty-four more hours and still no answers as to what they’ve done so far, and what they’re planning to do going forward, to carry out the Supreme Court’s ruling.”
On Friday, a judge ordered that beginning April 12, and continuing each day thereafter until further order of the court, Defendants shall file daily, on or before 5:00 PM ET, a declaration made by an individual with personal knowledge as to any information regarding: (1) the current physical location and custodial status of Abrego Garcia; (2) what steps, if any, Defendants have taken to facilitate his immediate return to the United States; (3) what additional steps Defendants will take, and when, to facilitate his return.1 A follow-up in-person hearing will be scheduled for Tuesday, April 15, 2025, at 4:00 PM.
How did this mistake even escalate to this point?
In 2019, a confidential informant named Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 member and he was put up for removal. Through his appeal of that case, he was granted the withholding of removal. This means that in order for him to be deported, the government would have had to reopen the case and ask a judge for permission.
Instead, Abrego Garcia was placed on one of the deportation flights to an El Salvador prison camp. His family has been fighting to get him back since March. A judge ordered the Trump administration to retrieve Abrego Garcia and they refused. Claiming that since he was out of the U.S. government’s custody there was nothing they could do.
Earlier this week SCOTUS ruled that the government must facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. During a hearing on Friday when his attorney’s asked for his status and location, prosecutors were unable to provide any details.