The Tennessee Star on Tuesday obtained the final deportation order issued by former U.S. Immigration Judge David M. Jones in 2019, which also granted “withholding of removal” relief, showing the judge appeared to prohibit immigration authorities from deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Guatemala, not to El Salvador, where he was born and remains a citizen.
According to the order, Abrego Garcia was given a Notice to Appear (NTA) on March 29, 2019, after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) alleged that he is not a citizen of the United States, but instead “a native and citizen of El Salvador,” who entered the United States but was not “admitted or paroled after inspection by an immigration officer,” making his entry illegal.
The order states that Abrego Garcia, through his attorney, “admitted the factual allegations in the NTA and conceded removability as charged,” which led Jones to determine Abrego Garcia’s “removability to be established by clear and convincing evidence,” as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act.
While acknowledging the veracity of the claims by DHS, the order notes that Abrego Garcia “filed a Form I-589, Application for Asylum, Withholding of Removal, and Relief under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture (CAT),” which asked the court to grant him legal asylum in the United States, grant a “withholding of removal” order preventing his deportation to one specific country but not another nation, and declare that he cannot be sent to one specific country based on fear of torture.
The Star has yet to obtain this Form I-589, which is part of the Abrego Garcia immigration case, and is not typically released to the public.
Jones ultimately ruled against Abrego Garcia’s asylum claim, as it was filed beyond the deadline created under federal law, as well as the Salvadoran’s CAT claim. However, Jones granted Abrego Garcia’s request for a “withholding of removal” order based on his claim that gangs threatened his family in El Salvador and Guatemala:
The Respondent’s application for asylum is time-barred without exception. However, he has established past persecution based on a protected ground, and the presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution. DHS has not shown there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened, or that internal relocation is possible and reasonable under the circumstances. Therefore, the Respondent’s application for withholding under the Act is granted. Finally, his CAT claim fails because he has not shown that he would suffer torture.”
Often called a “Maryland man,” Abrego Garcia reportedly admitted to illegally immigrating to the United States in 2012, and by 2019, two judges had deemed him likely to be part of the Central American gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
Despite denying two requests by Abrego Garcia, the “withholding of removal” order included in the October 2019 ruling was written purportedly to bar authorities from deporting him to El Salvador.
However, Jones inexplicably named Guatemala as the nation to which the Salvadoran is not to be deported by the federal government.
The order contains four instances of the word “Guatemala” throughout the 15-page ruling, while the name “El Salvador” appears eight times.
Jones first wrote “Guatemala” when describing Abrego Garcia’s testimony before the court, during which the illegal immigrant claimed to enter the United States after his family and its business were repeatedly targeted by Barrio 18, a longtime rival gang to MS-13, leading Abrego Garcia’s parents to send him and his brother to live in the United States unlawfully.
Despite earlier stating that Abrego Garcia was a “native of El Salvador,” who was born in 1995 in San Salvador, Jones later suggested that Abrego Garcia told the court his family closed its business and relocated from El Salvador to Guatemala:
At present, even though the family has now shut down the pupusa business, Barrio 18 continues to harass and threaten the Respondent’s two sisters and parents in Guatemala. Additionally, they have targeted a brother-in-law who now lives with the family.”
Of note, there is nothing in the order documenting the Abrego family’s relocation from El Salvador to neighboring Guatemala. In fact, the order specifically states the family moved multiple times to escape the reach of Barrio 18, but that it never moved more than 15 minutes away from its prior address.
The judge later claimed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security DHS had failed to explain to the court why the conditions in Guatemala had improved to the point that Abrego Garcia could be deported there. This portion of the ruling did not reference El Salvador:
DHS has failed to carry their burden to show that there are changed circumstances in Guatemala that would result in the Respondent’s life not being threatened, or that internal relocation is possible and reasonable. The facts here show that the Barrio 18 gang continues to threaten and harass the Abrego family over these several years, and does so even though the family has moved three times.”
Notably, public reports indicate that Barrio 18 is active in both El Salvador and Guatemala.
The judge’s next reference to Guatemala appears to reference legal background which determined, “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationships do not constitute a particular social group,” in part of the analysis which determined he was not part of a special class.
In the fourth reference, however, it appears Jones copied-and-pasted his previous mention of Guatemala, with the judge writing, “DHS has not shown there are changed circumstances in Guatemala” that would make it possible to deport Abrego Garcia to that country.
The judge’s eight mentions of El Salvador, by contrast, serve to establish that Abrego Garcia was born in the country, remains a citizen, and lived there until he was allegedly sent to live illegally in the United States by his parents.
In one of the eight appearances of El Salvador, the judge merely defined “pupusas,” the product Abrego Garcia said his family sold as its business, as “El Salvadoran stuffed tortillas.”
Jones’ repeated mentions of Guatemala in the court order come after a former attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia “in error,” specifically, in violation of the judge’s 2019 order.
Such claims led one Democrat in the U.S. Senate, and several in the House of Representatives, to travel to El Salvador, where many dubiously argued that due process rights afforded to Abrego Garcia were violated by the deportation.
The Star obtained the “withholding of removal” order less than one week after the outlet exclusively reported that the “Biden-era FBI” instructed the Tennessee Highway Patrol to release Abrego Garcia and his eight passengers during a 2022 traffic stop on I-40 in Putnam County.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
