News - Ábrego García still awaits justice after his unjust deportation, according to his lawyer.

By Rebecca Santana and Travis Loller FAIRFAX, Virginia, USA (AP) — Kilmar Ábrego García was not an activist and did not choose to get caught up in what has become one of the Trump administration's most controversial immigration issues, his attorney told The Associated Press on Monday. But while he enjoys some of the few days he has had with his family since he was erroneously sent to a prison in El Salvador last March, his attorney said he still hopes his case will reach a fair resolution. "He's been through a lot and he's still fighting," his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said in an AP interview after Ábrego García's release last week thanks to a court order. "What he can fight is constrained by the law and by the great power of the U.S. government, but he keeps fighting." Ábrego García's erroneous deportation to El Salvador helped galvanize opposition to Trump's immigration policies. He was detained in a notoriously brutal prison in the Central American nation despite having no criminal record. U.S. officials said Ábrego García was a member of the MS-13 gang, an accusation he denies and for which he was not prosecuted. Subsequently, he was charged with human trafficking, charges his lawyers have described as absurd and vindictive. The federal government fought against efforts to return him to the United States, but ultimately complied with a court order. Since then, his case has been a tangle of legal filings and disputes that has seen Ábrego García, a Salvadoran citizen, released from detention once since March — only for a weekend — while the government has pursued trafficking charges against him and announced plans to deport him to a series of African countries. Then, last week, a federal judge in Maryland ordered his release and barred the government from detaining him again for now until a hearing in his case can be held, possibly this week, said Sandoval-Moshenberg. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) criticized the judge's decision to release him last week and vowed to appeal, calling the ruling "blatant judicial activism" by a magistrate appointed during Barack Obama's presidency. DHS declined to comment on Monday for this story, citing restrictions imposed by a Tennessee judge on public commentary. Asylum, residency, or Costa Rica Sandoval-Moshenberg said Ábrego García has several options to pursue. His original asylum application in 2019 was denied because he filed it after the one-year deadline. But the lawyer argued that, in essence, the government reset the clock by deporting him to El Salvador and then bringing him back. And after the alleged abuse that, according to Sandoval-Moshenberg, Ábrego García suffered this year in El Salvador, he believes he would have a rock-solid asylum case. But, citing the twists and turns of his case and how it has become a symbol of government persecution of immigrants, he is concerned about his chances of getting a fair hearing in immigration court. "I think they have already shown that they are willing to tilt the scales," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. Ábrego García could also apply for residence (a green card) since he is married to a U.S. citizen. But that would require obtaining a government waiver, said Sandoval-Moshenberg, and the attorney doubts it would be granted. Or he could keep trying to be deported to Costa Rica, said Sandoval-Moshenberg, a country that has offered to allow him to enter as a refugee and live and work legally. And he would not be sent back to El Salvador, the attorney said. But he also believes the government would continue fighting that option. "They are focused on beating him. They are focused on punishing him. They are focused on making him miserable. I suppose Costa Rica isn’t miserable enough," he said. What will the government do? Sandoval-Moshenberg said he spent some time with Ábrego García and his family over the weekend talking about the government's next steps and what he might want for his future. "There are so many different ways things could play out. And much of that depends on how dirty the government is willing to play," he said. Sandoval-Moshenberg thinks that if the government were willing to relocate him to Costa Rica, his client would accept it, although he stressed that the decision depended on him. He said Ábrego García and his legal team would not consider that justice, which for him would mean staying with his family in the United States. But Sandoval-Moshenberg noted that taking into account everything he has faced and the "fact that they apparently are willing to use endless prosecutorial resources against him, deportation to Costa Rica is an acceptable outcome for him." The attorney also stressed that there is one place Ábrego García does not want to go. "His number one priority is not to end up back in CECOT," Sandoval-Moshenberg said, referring to the prison in El Salvador where his client was detained. He added that Ábrego García was tortured there, claims that authorities in El Salvador have denied and that AP could not independently verify. "His number one priority is to avoid being sent back to that prison." "He's an ordinary guy" Sandoval-Moshenberg said he has no idea why the government seems to have chosen Ábrego García's case to fight tooth and nail. "This is not a case where he is an activist, like an immigrant-rights activist, or has been, you know, persecuted by the government for his pro-Palestinian speech or something like that," the lawyer said. "He's an ordinary guy." The whole deportation, detention and return process has been "simply a really strange experience, out of this world for him," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. The judge briefly barred the government from detaining Ábrego García on Friday until his next court appearance. Although no date has been set for that, it could happen as soon as the end of this week, Sandoval-Moshenberg said, noting that the case's ebb and flow has been a struggle for Ábrego García and his family. "The ground under his feet is just earthquake after earthquake," he said. Loller reported from Nashville, Tennessee. This story has been translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative AI tool.