Later in 2019, a U.S. immigration judge shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that had terrorized his family. The Trump administration deported him there anyway, later describing the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.

Court filings and sworn declarations paint a complex picture of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who sits at the center of one of the Trump administration's biggest legal standoffs.