A federal judge in the United States has ordered the Trump administration arrange for the return of a Maryland father who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
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00:00Well, this is the result that Quilma Abrego-Garcia's family and supporters had all been hoping
00:07for.
00:08And you can see just how much this case has really galvanized the community here in Maryland,
00:13but also sent a shiver down the spines of so many immigrant communities who fear that
00:18they or their relatives could be next.
00:22Quilma Abrego-Garcia was deported to El Salvador last month after what immigration officials
00:27now admit was a mistake.
00:30He had come to the United States from El Salvador fleeing gang violence as a teenager, but in
00:362019 he himself was accused of being part of a gang, something he was never charged
00:41or convicted with.
00:43In 2019, he was granted a protection order by a judge to prevent him from being deported
00:49to El Salvador based on the fear that he could be tortured or persecuted if he was sent back
00:55there.
00:56And in March, immigration officials did just that.
00:59He was sent to this notorious El Salvadoran prison, mega prison that we've seen so much
01:04of in recent times on that flight, and the government then claimed that they could do
01:09nothing to bring him back.
01:11But when the judge today asked a lawyer for the Department of Justice why the United States
01:16couldn't bring Abrego-Garcia back to the US, the lawyer said that since this case had landed
01:22on his desk, he'd been asking his client the same questions and was yet to get any
01:28answers.
01:29Now, this case is one of so many people who've been swept up in this immigration blitz.
01:36And it's not just families and communities who are concerned about these mass deportations.
01:42Even Joe Rogan, the popular podcaster, the right-wing commentator Ann Coulter, they've
01:47raised questions about the legality and morality of this immigration policy, which does suggest
01:53that some cracks may be emerging in Donald Trump's deportation regime.