Trump will not return US dad who was wrongly deported and is now in gang prison (2025)

Kilmar Ábrego García was wrongly deported to El Salvador, where he is currently housed at a notorious gang prison, but pressure grows on Donald Trump to "facilitate" the man's return

A US dad who was wrongly deported and is now being held at a notorious gang prison in El Salvador is unlikely to return home.

Donald Trump's team has said to have no basis to bring Kilmar Ábrego García back to the US. This is despite a court in Maryland, where Mr Ábrego García lives, ordering the President to return the father.

Mr Trump administration officials have today stressed the US has no say in Mr Ábrego García's future. The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, who has been a vital partner for the Mr Trump administration in its deportation efforts, said he does not "have the power to return him to the United States."

The situation has left Mr Ábrego García's wife Jennifer heartbroken. She said last week: "If I had all the money in the world, I'd spend it to buy just one thing - a phone call to hear Kilmar's voice again, and have the opportunity to talk to him.

"I miss you so much... And I'm doing the best to fight for you and our children. We are still waiting for that call we were promised. And I'm still holding on to hope."

The Supreme Court has called for the Mr Trump administration to "facilitate" Mr Ábrego García’s return. However, Mr Trump remains stubborn the dad has to stay in El Salvador, which is where he was born.

But days after the father was taken into custody there last month, the US government said he was deported due to an "administrative error". Agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had stopped the man in Maryland as he drove home with his young son.

Nicole Hallett, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, questioned the government's claim the US is powerless to compel El Salvador to release Mr Ábrego García, citing an agreement between the two countries.

Mr Ábrego García is among 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans deported under the Mr Trump administration to El Salvador's notorious mega-prison. Officials allege they are gang members and therefore are subject to deportation.

More than 6,000 living immigrants in the US, meanwhile, have been classified as "dead" by the Donald Trump administration in a brutal move to make them leave the country.

The action will hinder the immigrants' ability to work or receive benefits, make it much harder for those affected to use banks or other basic services where Social Security numbers are required. Social Security has wiped the 6,000 people from its system, so their information - needed to secure jobs - has been erased.

Mr Trump, 78, has always insisted he would crack down on immigration in his second tenure as President. Last month, he even revoked legal status for more than 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela in a move for which he was widely condemned.