Man deported to El Salvador will never live back in US, says White House

A man who officials have acknowledged was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador "will never live" in the US again, the White House has said.

Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García was deported to Central America from Maryland after he was accused of being a member of the banned MS-13 gang, which his lawyer has denied.

A judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to secure his return to the US - but El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said earlier this week that he did not "have the power" to do so.

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on accusations that Mr Ábrego García is a gang member and accused the 29-year-old of domestic violence.

She cited records showing his US citizen wife once filed a protective order against him.

It comes amid an escalating showdown between the president and the judiciary on immigration, as a judge in another case said the administration could be held in contempt of court over deportation flights.

Leavitt told a press briefing: "If he [Mr Ábrego García] ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again.

"He will never live in the United States of America."

She again accused Mr Ábrego García of being a member of the MS-13 gang, citing court findings, but his lawyer and family have rejected that he was ever in the gang.

The press secretary also called Mr Ábrego García a "woman beater", referring to a domestic violence claim.

The Department of Homeland Security released details of a 2021 restraining order filed by his wife, who alleged he punched and scratched her and ripped off her shirt.

Mr Ábrego García's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told Newsweek on Wednesday that she sought the order "out of caution". She said they were able to resolve the situation as a family, including by counselling.

Meanwhile, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, flew to El Salvador in an attempt to speak with Mr Ábrego García, but was denied access on Wednesday.

Van Hollen met the country's Vice-President Félix Ulloa, who told the US senator they could not accommodate a visit to the mega-prison.

In a press conference in the capital San Salvador, Van Hollen called on the Central American country to release "a man who's charged with no crime, convicted of no crime and who was illegally abducted from the United States".

The White House hit back in a press release that Van Hollen "didn't even bother to contact" the family of Rachel Morin after her death.

Van Hollen's rebuff came a day after another US member of Congress, West Virginia Republican Riley Moore, was allowed by Salvadoran authorities to enter the prison.

Moore posted a selfie in front of a crowded cell, saying the visit had made him even more determined to "support President Trump's efforts to secure our homeland".

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