Abrego Garcia Says He Was Beaten in El Salvador Jail

Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he suffered physical and psychological abuse in the Salvadoran prison where he was detained.

The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador on March 15, and he was held in the country’s maximum security CECOT facility.

Abrego Garcia said he endured severe beatings, sleep deprivation, and psychological torture during his time at the prison, saying he was kicked and hit so often right after arrival that by the following day, he had visible bruises and lumps all over his body.

In new court documents, Abrego Garcia said detainees at CECOT “were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.”

He also detailed that prison officials told him they would transfer him to cells with gang members who would “tear” him apart. He added that he often saw and heard people being hurt throughout the night.

Abrego Garcia said he lost more than 30 pounds in his first two weeks there. The details of his incarceration were revealed after his wife’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for deporting him.

The Trump administration has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed now that Abrego Garcia has been returned to the United States, with the administration bringing him back last month to face charges of human smuggling in Tennessee. Attorney General Pam Bondi said of the charges that this “is what American justice looks like.”

His attorneys have called the charges “preposterous” and an attempt to justify his accidental expulsion from the country. A judge in Tennessee ruled that he is eligible for release under certain conditions but hasn’t been at the request of his attorneys, who believe that he would be deported again.

Department of Justice spokesman Chad Gilmartin told the Associated Press last month that the department intends to try Abrego Garcia on the smuggling charges before it moves to deport him again.

DOJ attorney Jonathan Guynn told a Maryland judge that they plan to deport Abrego Garcia to a “third country” that isn’t El Salvador. It’s unclear when that would be.