Trump administration: MD man 'alive, secure'
By: Eduardo Cuevas
and Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy
UAS Today
..... A Maryland father who was improperly deported to El Salvador is being held at a mega-prison there, A State Department official said in new court filings.
.....
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 10 [2025] directed the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Lilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has lived in the United States for over a decade. The next day, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide immediate information on his whereabouts.
..... Michael Kozak, a senior bureau official in the State Department, field a brief April 12 [2025]affirming Abrego Garcia was alive.
..... "It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador," he wrote. "He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador."
..... The Trump administration has provided few details on how officials plan tor turn Abrego Garcia to the United States despite court-ordered daily updates.
..... U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland mandated federal officials submit daily reports on where Abrego Garcia is and the steps officials have taken or will take to return him ahead of the next hearing on April 16. [2025]
..... The Trump administration has admitted it errantly detained and deported him to El Salvador and placed him in the Terrorism confinement Center, or CECOT, nearly a month ago.
..... "They've had plenty of time ... He should be here in the United States. It's a five-hour flight," said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, co-counsel for Abrego Garcia.
..... The family has asked that officials provide personnel to ensure his safe passage to the plane that will return him to the United States and sequestered that the U.S. government provide him paperwork to re-enter and ramming the United States.
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Administration officials say they have no control over his custody despite previously saying they have a $6 million agreement with the Salvadoran government to house hundreds of migrants the administration has accused of gang ties. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also visited CECOT, including when Abrego Garcia was in custody.
..... Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to arrive for a White House visit on April 14 [2025] after being invited by President Donald Trump. The White House has dismissed the possibility of Bukele returning Abrego Garcia on his plane.
..... In court on April 11, [2025] xinis, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyer Drew ensign for information on Abrego Garcia's status and whereabouts. Ensign told the judge administration officials hadn't told him more, as Xinis had previously ordered.
..... Federal immigration agents arrested Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal worker, on March 12 [2025] after pulling him over in an Ikea parking lot hear his home in Beltsville, Maryland, about half an hour outside of Washington, D,c,c The Trump administration has accessed him of being a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, but has presented no evidence to back up their claim.