The Biden-era legal system and the Trump administration have collided once again over immigration policy, this time in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Deported last month to a notorious El Salvadoran prison, Garcia’s removal has drawn fierce criticism from immigration advocates and legal experts—despite firm support from the former president’s allies who argue the deportation was necessary to protect Americans from gang-related violence.
Garcia, who came to the United States in 2011 at age 16 claiming to flee gangs in El Salvador, was granted a form of protection known as “withholding of removal” in 2019. A federal immigration judge determined that deporting him would place him at serious risk of harm from the very gangs he fled. However, in March, he was deported to El Salvador’s CECOT prison—home to thousands of gang members—without a formal criminal charge or conviction in the U.S.
Federal officials have since acknowledged that Garcia’s removal may have been the result of an “administrative error.” But former Trump officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Vice President JD Vance, defended the action, citing ICE intelligence and the need to protect Americans from dangerous individuals embedded in society under the guise of normalcy.
Bondi appeared on “Fox News Sunday” to assert that ICE agents testified Garcia was a known member of MS-13. “His lawyers have argued he should be here because he was studying to be an electrician,” Bondi said. “That’s how they’re hiding. That’s how they’re succeeding… We have to rely on what ICE says.” She also cited recent arrests of gang members in Florida, including one who allegedly stabbed a person over a hundred times as part of a gang initiation.
Critics, including Judge Paula Xinis, argue that the deportation was not just a bureaucratic mistake—it was unlawful. On Friday, Xinis ruled that Garcia must be returned to the United States by Monday at midnight, citing the prior legal protections afforded to him and the dangerous conditions he was deported into. The administration’s decision to proceed despite these protections is being questioned in courtrooms and newsrooms alike.
Garcia has never been charged with a violent crime in the U.S., a point raised by “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream during her interview with Bondi. Bondi dismissed that point, saying, “The best thing to do is to get these people out of our country… there were 261 reasons why Americans were safer when that plane landed.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reaffirmed the administration’s stance during a Tuesday press briefing, stating, “This individual is an illegal criminal who broke our nation’s immigration laws. He is a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang, and he is involved in human trafficking.” She emphasized the administration’s commitment to fulfilling the immigration enforcement goals laid out by President Trump.
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in, accusing Democrats and media critics of misplacing their outrage. “They’re more upset about a gang member being deported than they are about Americans being murdered by illegal immigrants,” Vance said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
