The Trump administration will seek to eliminate Kilmar Abrego García to El Salvador again if a judge grants the request of his lawyers to reopen his immigration case, according to a copy of a judicial presentation obtained by ABC News.
Abrego García, a Salvadoran native who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to the Mega Prison of El Salvador, despite a 2019 court order that except for his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution. The Trump administration said he was a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, that his family and lawyers deny.
He was taken back to the United States in June to face positions of trafficking in people in Tennessee, whom he declared himself innocent.
After being released under the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again arrested by the immigration authorities, who indicated his intention to deport him.
In this photo of the brochure provided by the Salvadoran government, the guards escort a newly admitted inmate supposedly linked to criminal organizations within a Cecot cell on March 16, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. The Trump administration deported 238 alleged members of Venezuelan criminal organizations ‘Tren de Aragua’ and Mara Salvatrucha.
Brochure/Salvador Government
Last month, a federal judge blocked the deportation of Abrego García until at least in early October. He is currently being held at a detention center in Farmville, Virginia.
The presentation of the Court, presented to the Baltimore Immigration Court on Thursday, was presented after Abrego García’s lawyers moved to reopen their case to seek asylum.
“If the Immigration Court grants the demand of the defendant to reopen, DHS will pursue the removal of the defendant to El Salvador, since his prior concession of retention of the elimination will no longer be valid,” said the government in the presentation on Thursday.
In 2019, an immigration judge granted Abrego García an order of removal, who prohibited his deportation to El Salvador.
If the procedures are reopened, Abrego García must establish “eligibility for any form of relief or protection of El Salvador,” said the government.
Kilmar Abrego García, attends an event with the followers, since it appears for a Check-in in the Ice Baltimore field office three days after his release of criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 25, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
On Thursday, the Government said that the imprisonment of Abrego García in Cecot “was so much a legal sanction and that it did not intend to cause the pain or suffering required.”
“Even assuming that the imprisonment of the defendant increases at the level of torture, the past torture is not decisive of the probability of future torture,” said the government.
The Government also dismissed lawyers’ concerns about the “gang orientation tactics of El Salvador”, arguing that “they do not reflect the final treatment” that Abrego García received after his unfair deportation in March.
“After being processed in [CECOT]It was transferred to the Industrial Center because it was perceived as a civilian, “said the government.” Its detention conditions in industrial center differ substantially from those described in the country, evidence of conditions. “
Kilmar Abrego García, attends an event with the followers, since it appears for a Check-in in the Ice Baltimore field office three days after his release of criminal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 25, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
In the presentation, the government also argued that the request to reopen the case of immigration of Abrego García must be denied because “it does not show that the conditions of the country in El Salvador have changed materially, and it is not yet established that” it is eligible for asylum.
According to the emergency motion presented last month to reopen the case, his lawyers argue that because Abrego García was deported and then returned to the United States, he is now eligible to request asylum within a year of his last entry to the United States.
In the archives, the Government described Abrego García in a member of a foreign terrorist organization, arguing that it makes it ineligible to asylum. The lawyers and families of Abrego García have repeatedly denied the accusations that he is a member of MS-13.
“It has been involved in extensive criminal activities since it has been in the United States,” the government said. “He is a known MS-13 member, a dangerous FTO.”
