- Kilmar Abrego Garcia alleges that he faced physical and psychological torture during his detention in an El Salvador prison.
- He says he wasn't able to contact his family or lawyers and experienced inhumane living conditions, resulting in severe weight loss.
- Abrego Garcia's deportation violated a 2019 judge order prohibiting his return to El Salvador due to potential gang violence.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was returned to the U.S. last month from his native El Salvador, said he suffered beatings and psychological torture during his time in a notorious prison after he was mistakenly deported in March.
The claims about his mistreatment in the prison were made in court documents filed by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers on Wednesday, per The Associated Press. The documents were added to a lawsuit against the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia’s wife filed after he was mistakenly deported.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland with his family before he was deported, and he quickly became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Abrego Garcia was called an “alleged woman beater” by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt after it came to light that his wife filed for an order of protection against him in 2021 because of domestic abuse.
The Trump administration also claims he was involved in gang and criminal activity in the U.S., including human smuggling.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s treatment in prison
After he was deported, Abrego Garcia was taken to the Anti-Terrorism Confinement Center — also known as CECOT — in El Salvador. It is believed to be full of gang violence and human rights abuses, but there are few firsthand accounts of life in the prison, according to Politico.
The documents filed on Wednesday are the first time Abrego Garcia has given an account of his experience after being deported.
Abrego Garcia said after arriving at the prison, officials repeatedly struck him in the head.
“Upon arrival at CECOT, the detainees were greeted by a prison official who stated, ‘Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave,’” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote, per Politico. “Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was then forced to strip, issued prison clothing, and subjected to physical abuse including being kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way.”
The complaint said that he was kicked and hit so often after he arrived that by the next day he had visible lumps and bruises all over his body. Abrego Garcia also said that he and others were forced to kneel all night long.
The account also alleges that Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access upon arrival and soiled himself.
Abrego Garcia said he lost 31 pounds during his first two weeks at CECOT.
The newly filed documents also describe Abrego Garcia undergoing “psychological torture,” including prison officials repeatedly telling him that “they would transfer him to cells containing gang members who, they assured him, would ‘tear’ him apart,” the complaint says, per NBC.
The complaint also alleges that Abrego was held for more than a month without being able to contact his family or consult a lawyer, per Politico. His lawyers wrote that his first contact with the outside world was when Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., visited him on April 17.
Abrego Garcia’s account differs from how the Trump administration and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele portrayed his treatment, reported Politico.
On April 9, Abrego Garcia was moved to a different section within CECOT and the next day he was transferred to the Centro Industrial prison facility in Santa Ana El Salvador, per NBC.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation
Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, according to the AP. The 29-year-old came to the U.S. in 2011 and stayed in Maryland, where his older brother, a U.S. citizen, lived.
His deportation violated a court order from a U.S. immigration judge in 2019, which barred Abrego Garcia from being deported back to his native country based on his assertion that he faced persecution there by local gangs, per the AP.
The Trump administration described his deportation as an “administrative error.”
Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. on June 6 after a back-and-forth between the Trump administration and courts, per NBC.
Charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia
When Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. he was charged with human smuggling in Tennessee, and he has been accused of transporting people who are illegally in the U.S. within the country, per the AP.
The charges allege that, over nine years, he participated in a conspiracy to move people from Texas to other states deeper in the country. He has also been accused of transporting members of the MS-13 gang and of being involved with MS-13, which his family and attorneys denied, per NBC.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said that her husband was not involved in criminal activity.
“Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle,” his wife previously said in a statement, per NBC. “He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing” at the time.
