President Donald Trump took his attacks about wrongly deported Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a new level on Easter Day, threatening to pursue legal action against those who do not follow his lead.
“Those lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social, the platform he owns.
Trump and others in his administration have repeatedly sought to portray Abrego Garcia as a violent gang member, refusing to concede that he may have been deported in error — even though the government has admitted in court that it was a mistake to put him on a plane.
Abrego Garcia was one of hundreds of mostly Venezuelan immigrants the Trump administration flew to a brutal prison camp in El Salvador in March. While the administration’s efforts to continue these deportations have been stalled by the courts, the Trump administration is fighting to resume the flights.
According to court records, Abrego Garcia was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after looking for work outside a Home Depot in 2019. ICE alleged that he was a member of MS-13 because he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie — a team logo occasionally linked to the gang — and because a “confidential informant” had said he was part of the “Westerns” MS-13 clique.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia say the “Westerns” operate out of Long Island, New York, a state that their client has never lived in.
While deportation proceedings began for Abrego Garcia, they stopped in late 2019 when he was granted a protective order from a federal judge barring his removal to his nation of origin — El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia was born in the Central American nation but said he fled around 2011 out of fear of persecution by gangs; the federal judge found it was reasonable to conclude he could be persecuted if sent back.
The evidence supposedly showing him to be a gang member was always thin.
Multiple courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, also have affirmed the validity of the protective order given to Abrego Garcia and told the Trump administration it must work to facilitate his return to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia is married to a U.S. citizen, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, with whom he shares a young son. His family members in the U.S. are at the forefront of those fighting for his return.
After Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) managed to meet face-to-face with him last week, a group of Democratic members of Congress set out to El Salvador this week to encourage his release.
The Trump administration, however, appears set on forcing Abrego Garcia to remain behind bars abroad.
“It is despicable and unAmerican for Liberals and the Mainstream Media to hate our Country so much, and be obsessed with protecting criminals, instead of working to keep our Border, streets, and families safe,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Vice President JD Vance has been among the most vocal in his support for Trump’s misleading message on the case, saying in repeated social media posts that “the left” is “obsessed” with an “MS-13 gang member.”