White House says Marylander deported to El Salvador was MS-13 leader

The White House on Tuesday said the Maryland father deported to El Salvador’s mega-prison was an MS-13 leader who will not be returning to the U.S., despite the Trump administration conceding in a prior court filing that he was mistakenly flown to the facility housing some of Latin America’s most notorious gang members.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Salvadoran national Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was a major player in MS-13 and referenced documents she witnessed from the Department of Homeland Security.

She also said a “clerical” error caused him to be sent to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.

Ms. Leavitt refused to elaborate on the evidence against Mr. Abrego Garcia’s alleged criminal record, but did take time to bash The Atlantic, which broke the story about the Maryland father’s deportation Monday.

“If you just saw the headline from the insane, failing Atlantic magazine this morning, you would think this individual was ‘Father of the Year,’ living in Maryland, living a peaceful life, when that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Ms. Leavitt said from the White House briefing room. “They didn’t even mention in the title of that article, or even in the first paragraph, that this individual is an illegal criminal who broke our nation’s immigration laws, he is a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang, and he is involved in human trafficking.”

The Trump administration admitted in court Monday that it mistakenly sent Mr. Abrego Garcia to the 40,000-inmate prison, with officials saying the U.S. doesn’t have the authority to right their wrong.

Mr. Abrego Garcia was one of the dozens of people flown to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center on March 15, shortly after federal immigration agents said they arrested him due to his “prominent role in MS-13.”

But Mr. Garcia has no ties to the international gang, according to his attorneys, and was granted protected status by a U.S. judge in 2019 after fleeing violence in his home country.

“Through administrative error, Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador,” Robert Cerna, an acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office director, said in a declaration. “This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego Garcia’s purported membership in MS-13.” 

ICE officials acknowledged in the declaration, which was first reported by The Atlantic, that Mr. Garcia was added to the flight manifest after other deportees had to be removed for other reasons.

U.S. authorities said they can’t retrieve Mr. Garcia because he’s in Salvadoran custody and is subject to the Central American country’s jurisdiction.

El Salvador’s CECOT prison has become a landing spot for gang members affiliated with MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua who are caught in the U.S.