Judge orders return of US man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A federal judge in the United States has ordered the Trump administration arrange for the return of a Maryland father who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

Transcript

00:00Well, this is the result that Quilma Abrego-Garcia's family and supporters had all been hoping

00:07for.

00:08And you can see just how much this case has really galvanized the community here in Maryland,

00:13but also sent a shiver down the spines of so many immigrant communities who fear that

00:18they or their relatives could be next.

00:22Quilma Abrego-Garcia was deported to El Salvador last month after what immigration officials

00:27now admit was a mistake.

00:30He had come to the United States from El Salvador fleeing gang violence as a teenager, but in

00:362019 he himself was accused of being part of a gang, something he was never charged

00:41or convicted with.

00:43In 2019, he was granted a protection order by a judge to prevent him from being deported

00:49to El Salvador based on the fear that he could be tortured or persecuted if he was sent back

00:55there.

00:56And in March, immigration officials did just that.

00:59He was sent to this notorious El Salvadoran prison, mega prison that we've seen so much

01:04of in recent times on that flight, and the government then claimed that they could do

01:09nothing to bring him back.

01:11But when the judge today asked a lawyer for the Department of Justice why the United States

01:16couldn't bring Abrego-Garcia back to the US, the lawyer said that since this case had landed

01:22on his desk, he'd been asking his client the same questions and was yet to get any

01:28answers.

01:29Now, this case is one of so many people who've been swept up in this immigration blitz.

01:36And it's not just families and communities who are concerned about these mass deportations.

01:42Even Joe Rogan, the popular podcaster, the right-wing commentator Ann Coulter, they've

01:47raised questions about the legality and morality of this immigration policy, which does suggest

01:53that some cracks may be emerging in Donald Trump's deportation regime.

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