Dorted, a Salvadoran back to the United States after months of legal battle-Liberation
The case of the Salvadorien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Living in Maryland married to an American, crystallizes for almost three months the opposition between federal justice, including the Supreme Court, and the Executive, accused of obstruction vis-à-vis the courts which contradict its policy of mass expulsions.
The immigrant expelled « Driving » But that the Trump administration said it was unable to bring back was finally renewed on Friday in the United States where it is now charged with migrant traffic, announced the Minister of Justice, Pam Bondi.
He is one of the more than 250 men expelled on March 15 to Salvador, most of all for assistance allegedly at the Venezuelan gang Tren in Aragua, declared organization « terrorist » by Washington. They were incarcerated in a high security prison known for the harshness of its conditions.
The Trump administration then recognized a court « Administrative error » Regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia since an expulsion order against him to Salvador had been definitively canceled in 2019.
She nevertheless accuses him, despite his absence as a criminal record, of belonging to the Salvadoral gang MS-13, also classified « terrorist » by the United States in February.
« Abrego Garcia landed in the United States to face justice, » said the minister, reporting on her charge by a great jury in Tennessee (South) in May, made public on Friday, for migrant trafficking since 2016.
Pam Bondi thanked the Salvadoral President, Nayib Bukele: « Our government has submitted an arrest warrant to the Salvador and they have agreed to send it back to our country. » If he is found guilty, Kilmar Abrego Garcia will serve his sentence in the United States before being expelled to Salvador, said the minister.
During a meeting at the White House in April, President Donald Trump and his Salvadio counterpart had nevertheless declared themselves unable to remedy this situation.
Bukele assured on Friday on X that he had not changed position. « But we work with the Trump administration and if they ask for the return of a gang member to face justice, of course we are not going to refuse », he said.
The White House, after having sworn for months that Kilmar Abrego Garcia would never set foot in the United States, argued on Friday that his return had nothing to do with his expulsion, denying that he was the source of a « error ».
“The government made Miles disappear in a foreign prison in violation of a court decision. Now, after months of delay and secret, he brings him back not to correct his error but to prosecute him criminally ”, Has deplored at a press conference one of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. « He will vigorously defend himself from the charges against him, » said the lawyer, saying that she wanted to meet his client « as soon as possible ».
« This file concerns more than one man », Ama Frimpong, a legal director of the Casa immigrants organization, underlined. « It is a question of knowing if the government can make us disappear and reduce us to silence, we people, brave court decisions and use secret processes so as not to have to account », she explained.
« For months, the Trump administration flouted the authority of the Supreme Court and our Constitution », For his part reacted in a statement the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen, who had been able to briefly meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia In April in Salvador.
« Today, it seems that she finally went to our requirements to respect court decisions and the rights to defend herself granted to anyone in the United States », he congratulated himself.
Donald Trump erected the fight against illegal immigration in absolute priority, evoking a « invasion » United States by « Criminals from abroad » And communicating abundantly on the expulsions of immigrants.
But his massive expulsion program was thwarted or slowed down by multiple court decisions, in particular on the grounds that the people targeted should be able to assert their rights.
