Immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyer stated that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has transferred this Salvadoran man to a detention facility in Pennsylvania. This is the latest development in the case, which has become a political focal point in the United States due to a series of legal disputes and policy issues.
According to documents submitted by Abrego Garcia’s lawyer to the federal court, ICE brought the 30-year-old Abrego to a detention center established by the agency in central Pennsylvania last Friday morning, September 26. The lawyers stated that ICE informed them of the situation earlier that day.
Abrego was previously detained in Virginia. On September 19, his lawyer filed a status report, claiming that Abrego being held in the detention center in that state, meeting with his defense team, and preparing trial documents “had placed a huge burden.”
Court documents submitted by the defense team reveal that an ICE officer informed Abrego that he would be transferred to the Pennsylvania detention center so that his lawyer could “have more contact with him.”
However, Abrego’s lawyer noted that some lawyers in New York and Tennessee may find it difficult to meet with their client who is detained in Pennsylvania.
Abrego’s case is quite complex. He currently faces two cases: one is an immigration case where U.S. authorities are seeking to deport him to a third country, and the other is a criminal case where the U.S. Department of Justice accuses him of conspiring with a smuggling gang member to illegally bring immigrants into the United States from 2016 to 2025.
Abrego is a Salvadoran citizen. His lawyer claims that he entered the United States in 2011 to escape gang violence in El Salvador. The lawyer also said that in 2019, a confidential informant informed U.S. authorities that Abrego was a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego later applied for asylum with U.S. immigration authorities, but an immigration judge ruled that he could be returned to El Salvador, with a temporary stay of execution of that decision.
Since 2019, Abrego has held a work permit in the United States. Before being deported in March of this year, he resided in Maryland, where his wife and 5-year-old child are U.S. citizens.
In mid-March of this year, the Trump administration, citing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, deported Abrego and hundreds of others identified as illegal immigrants belonging to the Venezuelan gang “Tren de Aragua” back to a prison in El Salvador. Abrego later returned to the United States after several twists and turns. This deportation sparked a series of legal disputes and became a highly publicized political focal point related to Trump’s immigration policies.