The Trump administration will search to take away Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador once more if a choose grants his attorneys’ request to reopen his immigration case, in line with a replica of a courtroom submitting obtained by ABC Information.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who had been residing in Maryland along with his spouse and kids, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — regardless of a 2019 courtroom order barring his deportation to that nation resulting from worry of persecution. The Trump administration claimed he was a member of the legal gang MS-13, which his household and attorneys deny.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human trafficking prices in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not responsible.
After being launched into the custody of his brother in Maryland pending trial, he was again detained by immigration authorities, who indicated their intention to deport him.
On this handout picture supplied by the Salvadoran authorities, guards escort a newly admitted inmate allegedly linked to legal organizations inside a cell at CECOT on March 16, 2025 in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Trump’s administration deported 238 alleged members of the Venezuelan legal organizations ‘Tren De Aragua’ and Mara Salvatrucha.
Handout/Salvadoran Authorities through Getty
A federal choose final month blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation till no less than early October. He’s at present detained at a detention middle in Farmville, Virginia.
The courtroom submitting, submitted to the Baltimore Immigration Court docket on Thursday, was filed after Abrego Garcia’s attorneys moved to reopen his case to hunt asylum.
“Ought to the Immigration Court docket grant the respondent’s movement to reopen, DHS will pursue the respondent’s removing to El Salvador, as his prior grant of withholding of removing will now not be legitimate,” the federal government stated within the submitting on Thursday.
In 2019, an immigration choose granted Abrego Garcia an order of removing, which prohibited his deportation to El Salvador.
If proceedings are reopened, Abrego Garcia shall be required to ascertain “eligibility for any types of aid or safety from El Salvador,” the federal government stated.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, attends an occasion with supporters, as he seems for a check-in on the ICE Baltimore discipline workplace three days after his launch from legal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Maryland, August 25, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
On Thursday, the federal government stated that Abrego Garcia’s imprisonment at CECOT “was each a lawful sanction and one not particularly supposed to trigger the requisite ache or struggling.”
“Even assuming that the respondent’s imprisonment rises to the extent of torture, previous torture just isn’t determinative of the chance of future torture,” the federal government stated.
The federal government additionally dismissed the attorneys’ issues about El Salvador’s “gang-targeting techniques,” arguing they “don’t mirror the final word therapy” Abrego Garcia acquired after his wrongful deportation in March.
“After being processed in [CECOT], he was transferred to Centro Industrial as a result of he was perceived as a civilian,” the federal government stated. “His detention circumstances at Centro Industrial differ considerably from these described within the nation circumstances proof.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, attends an occasion with supporters, as he seems for a check-in on the ICE Baltimore discipline workplace three days after his launch from legal custody in Tennessee, in Baltimore, Maryland, August 25, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
Within the submitting, the federal government additionally argued that the request to reopen Abrego Garcia’s immigration case needs to be denied as a result of it “fails to point out that nation circumstances in El Salvador have materially modified, and it additional fails to ascertain that he” is eligible for asylum.
Based on the emergency movement filed final month to reopen the case, his attorneys argue that as a result of Abrego Garcia was deported after which introduced again to the U.S., he’s now eligible to use for asylum inside one yr of his final entry into the U.S.
Within the filings, the federal government referred to as Abrego Garcia a member of a international terrorist group, arguing it makes him ineligible for asylum. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys and households have repeatedly denied accusations that he’s a member of MS-13.
“He has engaged in intensive legal actions since he has been in the USA,” the federal government stated. “He’s a recognized member of the MS-13, a harmful FTO.”