‘Tortured, beaten and sleep deprieved’: Kilmar Abrego Garcia recalls horrifying moments in El Salvador prison; claims he was forced to kneel all night
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported from the United States to El Salvador last year amid the Trump administration’s move on immigration crackdown, recalled the horrifying moment he experience in jail and claimed that he was severely beaten, deprived of sleep and psychologically tortured, according to new court documents filed Wednesday.After arriving at the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, guards kicked and hit him so much that he was covered in bruises and lumps the next day. He and about 20 others were forced to kneel all night, and guards hit anyone who fell.Garcia had been living in Maryland before he was mistakenly deported in March 2024. The new details about his treatment in prison were added to a lawsuit his wife filed in federal court in Maryland.The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it is no longer relevant because the government returned him to the United States as ordered by the court.Back in 2019, a US immigration judge ruled that Abrego Garcia should not be deported to El Salvador because local gangs had threatened him and his family. Despite that order, the Trump administration deported him anyway, later calling it an “administrative error.” Trump and other officials have claimed Abrego Garcia was part of the MS-13 gang.On March 15, after being deported, Abrego Garcia was sent to CECOT, a mega high-security prison in El Salvador.In court documents, Abrego Garcia described the terrible conditions in the detention centre. Detainees were kept on metal bunks with no mattresses in overcrowded cells with no windows. Bright lights were kept on 24 hours a day and there was very little access to sanitation facilities.He said guards threatened to move him to cells with gang members who would attack him. He reported hearing screams at night and seeing other inmates harming each other. He lost more than 30 pounds in just two weeks.Senator Chris Van Hollen, Maryland democrat, met Garcia in El Salvador in April. The senator said he had been moved from the mega-prison to a detention centre in better conditions.Meanwhile, the Trump administration is facing immense pressure including a Supreme Court order to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US. When he returned last month, he was sent to Tennessee to face federal human smuggling charges.A federal judge in Tennessee ruled that Abrego Garcia can be released under certain conditions while awaiting trial. However, he remains in jail at his attorneys’ request because they fear he could be deported again if freed.The Justice Department spokesman Chad Gilmartin says it will first try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before attempting to deport him again, as reported by AP. Separately, Justice Department attorney Jonathan Guynn told a judge in Maryland that the US plans to deport him to a “third country” that is not El Salvador, though there is no set timeline for this. His attorneys say these comments prove he could be deported “immediately.”
