A federal judge ordered an alleged MS-13 gangbanger deported by the Trump administration and sent to a Salvadoran mega-prison be retuned to the United States.
An Obama-appointed judge has ordered the Trump administration to return an alleged MS-13 gangbanger who was deported to a Salvadoran mega-prison.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration Friday to return Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., according to The Associated Press. While the administration has acknowledged that Abrego’s deportation was made in error, federal officials maintain that more than enough evidence substantiates accusations that he’s a documented member and local leader of MS-13, a ruthless criminal syndicate that’s been designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
In remarks on the ruling, Xinis, who was appointed to the bench by the Obama administration, called Garcia’s deportation “an illegal act” and questioned why he was transferred to El Salvador’s mega-prison, according to the AP.
“Why is he there, of all places?” Xinis asked.
Garcia, a Salvadoran national who unlawfully entered the U.S. in 2011, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in March and eventually sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador that was built to hold documented MS-13 members and other gangbangers. However, the deportation was the result of an administrative error.
