Salvadoran deported by mistake will be deported again if he returns, Department of Justice warns

The U.S. Department of Justice affirmed Tuesday that if Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia - a Salvadoran citizen deported in error - manages to return to the country, he will be immediately detained and deported again. The statement is part of a court filing responding to an order requiring daily updates on his case.

Authorities indicated that if it is not possible to send him to a third country, they will seek to cancel his suspension of deportation status to return him to El Salvador, where he is currently being held.

Although the document formally responds to the court order, it does not provide specific details on what actions the government is taking to facilitate his return to the United States, as the courts ordered.

Case background

Abrego Garcia legally resided in the United States and was protected from deportation due to the risk he would face if he returned to his home country. In 2019, during the Donald Trump administration, he was charged with membership in the MS-13 gang but was never convicted, and a federal judge ruled that he should not be deported.

Despite that ruling, federal agents arrested him in March 2025 while he was with his five-year-old son. Three days later, he was deported to El Salvador, where he was incarcerated in a high-security prison.

A federal judge later ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his return, and the Supreme Court subsequently upheld that decision. However, the government has maintained that its responsibility is limited to cooperating if El Salvador formally requests his return, which has not happened.

No clear options

During a press conference, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele was asked directly about the possibility of returning Abrego Garcia to the United States. Sitting next to Trump, Bukele rejected that option outright. "How do they want me to send him back, like I'm smuggling him across? That's not going to happen," he responded to reporters.

When asked again if Abrego Garcia would be released in Salvadoran territory, Bukele was equally clear: "We are not very fond of releasing terrorists," he said, ruling out any possibility of releasing him inside the country. With these positions, Abrego Garcia's case remains trapped in a legal and diplomatic limbo, with no clear solution in sight.