Kilmar Ábrego García, an undocumented Salvadoran national, has resided in Maryland for over 20 years. In early September, he faced an alarming setback in his pursuit of asylum in the United States. On Thursday, immigration Judge John McCaffery in Baltimore denied his application. This decision was made in spite of his deep roots in the country, including an American spouse and children. The decision follows an acrimonious court struggle that has alarmed numerous civic organizations and bipartisan political leaders.
Kilmar Ábrego García immigrated illegally to the U.S. as a teenager in 2011. Under the Trump administration, his life turned upside down as he was falsely accused of being part of the MS-13 gang multiple times while having no criminal record at all. In March, he was wrongfully deported back to El Salvador. After a storm of public outrage, in June he was reared back to the U.S.
His nightmare returned when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) incarcerated him. This was during one of the regular immigration enforcement check-ins in Baltimore. He was subsequently released from criminal custody in Tennessee pending trial. His retribution had come from the recent ruling handed down by a as recently as last year often-frustrating immigration court. For Joseph, he now had only 30 days to appeal the asylum denial.
The Department of Homeland Security has determined that Kilmar Ábrego García poses a negligible risk of remaining in the U.S. Their position could not be clearer.
“His lawyers tried to fight his removal from the U.S. but one thing is certain, this Salvadoran man is not going to be able to remain in our country,” – Department of Homeland Security
The case of Kilmar Ábrego García attracted national attention. As expected, it has caused a firestorm of protest among democrats and civil society organizations. According to his defenders, the proactive steps taken against his presence here are a product of policies whose intent is to specifically terrorize communities of color.
Instead, the Trump administration worsened Kilmar Ábrego García’s situation by announcing it would deport him. First they planned to send him to Uganda, then turned him away again by sending him to Eswatini, putting his already tenuous legal future further at risk.
Fortunately, a federal judge in Tennessee has intervened to provide the necessary ruling of the day. So he gave the power to order prosecutors not to make prejudicial statements about Kilmar Ábrego García, stressing the controversial nature of his legal fight.
Kilmar Ábrego García courageously traverses this often-abstract and complex legal terrain, doggedly pursuing any legal path for his appeal. At the same time, his supporters have uniformly and consistently defended him. The coming weeks will be make or break for him. He is making preparations for the best—and worst—scenarios of his asylum case decision, and what his family’s life after that looks like.