President Donald Trump's administration has dug in on its contention that the government should not have to repatriate Kilmar Abrego Garcia, despite U.S. Supreme Court and lower court rulings that he was wrongly deported and should be returned to the United States.
For weeks, officials alternated between admitting Abrego Garcia — a 29-year-old Salvadoran who had been living in Maryland and is married to a U.S. citizen — was deported in error and arguing that the U.S. has no more power in the matter because he's in El Salvador.
Here is a look at what judges, federal officials, the president and his lieutenants have said about Abrego Garcia's case.
SPRING 2019: During Trump's first administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains Abrego Garcia and, according to court records, asserts that an informant has identified him as “a verified gang member.” An immigration judge denies bond, saying Abrego Garcia is “confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.”
The official Notice to Appear in immigration court, however, focuses only on the undisputed fact that Abrego Garcia previously crossed the U.S. border without legal status — he “was not then admitted or paroled after inspection by an immigration officer,” the notice says. Abrego Garcia and his attorneys deny gang affiliation; he's never been charged with a related crime.
FALL 2019: Another immigration judge grants Abrego Garcia protection from removal to El Salvador, affirming his contention that he would be endangered by local gangs. But the judge denies blanket asylum, noting that “withholding from removal, in contrast to asylum, confers only the right not to be deported to a particular country rather than the right to remain in the U.S.” This point will become key to the Trump administration's arguments.
MARCH 12, 2025: According to court documents, ICE agents arrest Abrego Garcia, telling him his "immigration status has changed." He's later deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison.
MARCH 31: The Trump administration writes in a court filing that “ICE was aware of his protection from removal” to his home country but Abrego Garcia “was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error.”
APRIL 4: Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni says in court: “We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador.” Pressed for a reason he is being held, Reuveni replies: “I don’t know.”
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis orders the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return. The White House questions her power. "We are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador," press secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
APRIL 5: The administration backs away from any admission of error. In an unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General John Sauer writes: “The Executive’s assessment of the danger that Abrego Garcia poses to this country is entitled to substantial deference.”
APRIL 6: Attorney General Pam Bondi affirms on Fox News that Reuveni has been placed on leave from the Justice Department because of court statements.
“He shouldn’t have taken the case, he shouldn’t have argued it if that’s what he was going to do,” Bondi says. She compares his exchanges in court to “a defense attorney walking in, conceding something in a criminal matter” about their client.
APRIL 11: The government tells Xinis it doesn't know Abrego Garcia's whereabouts. Drew Ensign, deputy assistant attorney general, says the administration is "actively considering what could be done" in response to a Supreme Court order that it must work to bring him back. But Ensign says he has no personal knowledge of Abrego Garcia's status.
APRIL 12: For the first time, a U.S. government official confirms Abrego Garcia is alive and in the CECOT prison.
“It is my understand based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center,” writes Michael G. Kozak, identifying himself in the document as senior official in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. “He is alive and secure in that facility.”
Kozak amplifies the administration's contention that the U.S. no longer has jurisdiction over Abrego Garcia: “He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
APRIL 13: Evan Katz, of ICE, files a status update saying Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed to El Salvador.” Still, Katz reintroduces the argument that “Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding because of his membership in MS-13.”
APRIL 17: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen meets in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen posts a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker does not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also posts images of the meeting, saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
APRIL 14: Multiple Trump officials speak on the matter in an Oval Office appearance that includes Bukele.
Attorney General Pam Bondi puts the burden on El Salvador. “That's not up to us,” she says, adding, “If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it. Meaning provide a plane.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller highlights as fact the allegation that Abrego Garcia is in MS-13. So, Miller reasons, Abrego Garcia “was no longer eligible for any foreign immigration relief in the United States” and was deported under a “valid” order.
Then, according to Miller, “a district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here.”
Also at the White House, Miller swipes at Reuveni, the suspended lawyer: “No one was mistakenly sent anywhere. The only mistake that was made is a lawyer put an incorrect line in a legal filing that’s since been relieved.”
Bukele declares it preposterous even to ask his intentions. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it,” he says, adding he doesn't “have the power to return him.”
Later, the administration's daily status update echoes the White House rhetoric: Abrego Garcia is “in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation,” writes Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. He is “no longer eligible” for U.S. court protection given that the administration has declared MS-13 a foreign terrorist organization, the update says.
APRIL 15: Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, tells ABC News, “We should explain to viewers watching why this clerical error occurred in the first place. It's because this MS-13 gang member was given protective orders because there were rival gangs in El Salvador that might go after him if he was sent there. So, he could have been sent to Egypt, Nicaragua, Honduras, you name it. He just couldn't go to El Salvador. So the bottom line, I think, it almost bolsters the government's case that this is a member of MS-13.”
APRIL 17: A three-judge federal appellate court panel in a blistering order called the Trump administration's claim that it can't do anything to free Abrego Garcia "shocking."
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III writes that the judges “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos."
“This case presents their unique chance to vindicate that value and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time," he wrote.
The panel says Trump's government is “asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.”
AT THE WHITE HOUSE: That day, asked by reporters whether he believed Abrego Garcia was entitled to due process, Trump said: “I have to refer, again, to the lawyers.”
But he adds: “I had heard that there were a lot of things about a certain gentleman — perhaps it was that gentleman — that would make that case be a case that’s easily winnable on appeal. So we’ll just have to see.”
____
Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed reporting.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
