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Kilmar Ábrego García was 16 when he came to the US, after his family were targeted by criminal gangs in his home of El Salvador. He joined his brother in Maryland and started a new life.
In 2019, he was arrested by immigration officials and accused of being a gang member, but his lawyers argued there was no evidence for this, pointed out he had no criminal convictions and insisted he should not be sent back to a country where he was himself at risk from criminal gangs. A judge agreed and gave him protected status so he could not be deported.
For the next few years, Ábrego García’s normal life continued. He worked as a metal worker, lived with his wife, two stepchildren and five-year-old son, and started studying again.
Then Donald Trump returned to power, on the promise he would begin deporting criminals en masse. Last month Ábrego García was arrested again, detained and then found himself on a plane to El Salvador.
The Guardian US immigration reporter Maanvi Singh tells Hannah Moore how Ábrego García found himself locked away in an infamous prison created for violent gang members. “Once your family member or loved one is inside,” Maanvi explains, “they’re gone for ever.” Ábrego García’s wife and family launched legal action in the US – only for immigration officials to admit his deportation had been a clerical error.
The Trump administration says there is nothing it can do to bring him back, while El Salvador’s president says he will be kept in prison. Now the supreme court has intervened – but will either side listen?
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