Kilmar Abrego Garcia: The Incredible Story of a Maryland Man Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador

Kilmar Abrego Garcia: US President Donald Trump held a meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House to discuss bilateral relations. During their talks, Trump expressed gratitude to Bukele for supporting the deportation of individuals accused of terrorism and for allowing the use of El Salvador’s prisons to detain them.

A major outcome of the meeting was El Salvador's refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a Maryland resident mistakenly deported—to the US. Garcia, 29, a construction worker who moved to the US during the Obama era, had lived in Maryland for 14 years. He is married and has three children with disabilities.

Garcia was deported during Trump’s second term as part of a mass removal operation, after being falsely linked to the MS-13 gang—a group designated as a terrorist organization in the US. Although officials later admitted the deportation was an “administrative error,” the US Supreme Court has directed the Trump administration to facilitate Garcia’s return.

However, President Bukele has stated that El Salvador, now considered one of the safest countries in the region, cannot afford to release individuals suspected of criminal ties, fearing a return to high levels of violence. He emphasized that he does not have the authority to send Garc