In late March, President Trump deported a group of immigrants who were alleged to be partaking in gang violence. They were deported to El Salvador, and once there, they were sent to a maximum security prison. This move was controversial because none of them were given due process. Among the deported was 30-year-old Abrego Garcia, a legal immigrant who moved to the US to escape gang violence. Despite legally being allowed to live in the United States, he was deported.
When Garcia first moved to the United States in 2012, he did so illegally. However, in 2019, he was given court-ordered protection due to the threats made against him by gangs in El Salvador. President Donald Trump and his administration deported Garcia on allegations that he was affiliated with the international MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, gang and was given no trial.
Garcia was initially deported to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, prison, which is a maximum-security prison and has earned notoriety due to its brutal treatment of prisoners. CECOT has been described as having an overcrowding issue, and there is a severe lack of transparency in prisoner numbers because that is classified by the government of El Salvador.
The case was brought to a vote by the Supreme Court on March 4 and the ruling was unanimous that the government must facilitate his immediate release. On top of this, the court ruled that the deportations that took place in February were unconstitutional. The current administration denied this ruling, standing on their accusation of gang affiliation. In response to this, the Supreme Court kept the case open and pushed it back down to the lower courts.
What the Trump Administration did is being criticized by the global media for violating America’s checks and balances system. In response to the criticism, the government of El Salvador ended up moving Abrego Garcia to a lower security prison that allows him to be alone and have free time.
