Kilmar Abrego Garcia was stripped bare, had his head shaved, was crushed, compelled to kneel for hours in a single day, and misplaced over 30 kilos throughout his time on the infamous CECOT jail in El Salvador, his attorneys say in a brand new court docket submitting.
Abrego, of Maryland, was deported to El Salvador in March by the Trump administration in an “administrative error” and was returned to the U.S. in June to face federal costs. On the time of his elimination from the U.S., Abrego was shielded from deportation by a 2019 court docket order.
His high-profile case was pushed into the nationwide highlight, sparking a heated debate over Trump’s immigration crackdown and the race to deport folks, at instances with out due course of.
Abrego was deported to El Salvador on March 15 and positioned into CECOT, a megaprison recognized for its brutal situations.
There, he was allegedly subjected to extreme beatings, sleep deprivation, insufficient diet and psychological torture, his attorneys mentioned in an amended criticism filed Wednesday. That criticism is a part of a federal lawsuit filed by Abego’s spouse in opposition to the Trump administration within the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maryland.
The criticism states that upon arrival at CECOT, Abrego was compelled to strip, issued jail clothes, kicked within the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to vary sooner. His head was additionally allegedly shaved, and he was frog-marched to a cell whereas being hit with wood batons.
The next day, he had “seen bruises and lumps throughout his physique,” the criticism mentioned.
In that cell, he and 20 different Salvadorans “had been compelled to kneel from roughly 9 p.m. to six a.m., with guards hanging anybody who fell from exhaustion,” the submitting mentioned. Throughout that point, Abrego was denied lavatory entry and dirty himself, based on the criticism.
The inmates had been confined to metallic bunks with no mattresses in overcrowded cells with out home windows and shiny lights that stayed on 24 hours a day, the criticism says.
Whereas there, jail officers repeatedly advised Abrego that “they might switch him to cells containing gang members who, they assured him, would ‘tear’ him aside,” the criticism says.
The attorneys mentioned Abrego noticed prisoners violently hurt one another with out employees intervention.
“Screams from close by cells would equally ring out all through the night time with none response from jail guards or personnel,” the criticism says.
In his first two weeks, he misplaced 31 kilos.
On April 9, the criticism says, Abrego and 4 others had been transferred to a distinct module in CECOT. However the subsequent day, he was transferred alone to the Centro Industrial jail facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
All through his time in El Salvador, his attorneys say, Abrego was denied any communications together with his household and entry to counsel till Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., visited him on April 17.
The Supreme Courtroom dominated in April that his elimination was “unlawful” and decided {that a} choose’s order for the administration to facilitate his return was correct.
Abrego was in the end returned to the U.S. on June 6, following a contentious back-and-forth between the court docket and the Trump administration that raised considerations about defiance of the judicial department.
The federal government has repeatedly accused the 29-year-old of being concerned with the gang MS-13 — claims Abrego’s household and attorneys have denied.
His attorneys say Abrego, who’s from El Salvador, left the nation when he was round 16 years previous to flee gang violence. In 2011, Abrego entered the U.S. with out inspection and stayed in Maryland, the place his older brother, a U.S. citizen, lived, the criticism mentioned.
Within the Wednesday submitting, attorneys for the Abrego household ask Choose Paula Xinis to rule that over the course of this whole ordeal — from the time he was picked up in that Maryland parking zone to when he was returned to the U.S. — the federal government violated legal guidelines, and his Fifth Modification proper to due course of.
Additionally they need Abrego returned to Maryland and individually desire a habeas corpus listening to held in Maryland.
When Abrego returned final month, the Justice Division mentioned he would face human smuggling costs in Tennessee. He’s accused of transporting folks not legally within the U.S. inside the nation.
He allegedly participated in a conspiracy over 9 years to maneuver folks from Texas deeper into the nation, together with members of MS-13, the Trump administration mentioned.
Abrego’s spouse, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has insisted that he was not concerned in felony exercise.
“Kilmar labored in development and typically transported teams of employees between job websites, so it’s totally believable he would have been pulled over whereas driving with others within the car,” his spouse beforehand mentioned in an announcement. “He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing” on the time.
The household’s legal professional, Chris Newman, beforehand mentioned the Trump administration’s efforts are a part of a “marketing campaign of disinformation, defamation in opposition to Kilmar and his household.”
The federal choose presiding over Abrego’s felony case in Tennessee ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to adjust to native guidelines prohibiting out-of-court statements that might jeopardize Abrego’s proper to a good trial.
Abrego’s attorneys had requested the court docket to cease the federal government from making extrajudicial statements about their consumer, saying, “From the second Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia challenged his unlawful rendition to El Salvador in March 2025, the federal government has repeatedly maligned him in public statements.”
“Mr. Abrego is entitled to a good trial ‘by an neutral jury free from outdoors influences.’ However he’s practically sure to be denied that proper if the federal government, left to its personal gadgets, stays its present course,” the attorneys added.
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