Abrego Garcia Not Part of El Salvador’s Agreement to Detain TdA Gang Members

The Trump Justice Department has informed the federal judge presiding over the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia that his deportation to El Salvador is not part of the agreement under which that country agreed to accept aliens deported by the United States.

Instead, (a) that agreement pertains only to Venezuelan aliens whom the Trump administration deems members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), the international criminal gang the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and about 137 of whose alleged members the administration has summarily deported by invoking the Alien Enemy Act of 1798; and (b) although transferred to El Salvador along with these Venezuelans, Abrego Garcia, who is a Salvadoran national, was deported to his native country, not because of the agreement, but because he was a removable illegal alien — notwithstanding that his deportation to El Salvador was illegal under a 2019 withholding of removal order issued by an immigration judge (which the Justice Department in the first Trump administration did not appeal).

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.

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The Trump Justice Department has informed the federal judge presiding over the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia that his deportation to El Salvador is not part of the agreement under which that country agreed to accept aliens deported by the United States.

Instead, (a) that agreement pertains only to Venezuelan aliens whom the Trump administration deems members of Tren de Aragua (TdA), the international criminal gang the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and about 137 of whose alleged members the administration has summarily deported by invoking the Alien Enemy Act of 1798; and (b) although transferred to El Salvador along with these Venezuelans, Abrego Garcia, who is a Salvadoran national, was deported to his native country, not because of the agreement, but because he was a removable illegal alien — notwithstanding that his deportation to El Salvador was illegal under a 2019 withholding of removal order issued by an immigration judge (which the Justice Department in the first Trump administration did not appeal).

About the Author

Andrew C. McCarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at National Review Institute, an NR contributing editor, and author of Ball of Collusion: The Plot to Rig an Election and Destroy a Presidency.