Kilmar Abrego Garcia had just picked up his 5-year-old son from school on March 12 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained him in Prince George’s County. The Salvadoran national has said he wasn’t told why he was arrested, a move that eventually led to his mistaken deportation to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia, 29, had lived in Maryland for more than a decade and was shielded from removal in 2019 after an immigration judge found that he would likely face persecution by local gangs if deported to El Salvador.

While President Donald Trump’s administration admitted that Abrego Garcia was deported in error, it remains unclear what it will take to return him to the U.S.

The case has since morphed into a standoff between the judiciary branch and Trump. Despite rulings ordering the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, the federal government has stalled in what legal experts have called “flat defiance of the rule of law.”

Here’s a timeline of what we know about Abrego Garcia and what has happened since he was deported, based on court records, media reports and press releases.

2011

A local gang in El Salvador, Barrio 18, extorted Abrego Garcia’s family for years, according to court records. The gang threatened to take Abrego Garcia away and rape and kill his sisters, the records say. His family sent Abrego Garcia to the U.S. around 2011, when he was 16, to live with his brother Cesar, now a U.S. citizen.

He met Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, about five years later.

2018

Abrego Garcia moved in with Vasquez Sura and her two children after she learned she was pregnant. They made Beltsville in Prince George’s County their home.

2019

March

Abrego Garcia was looking for work at a Home Depot in Hyattsville when Prince George’s County police arrested him. Detectives approached the group after allegedly recognizing a member of the MS-13 Sailors Clique, according to a police report. Abrego Garcia denied being a member of a gang, but he was detained by ICE.

April

An immigration judge denied him bond based on the gang affiliation allegations, though he was not charged with or convicted of a specific crime, according to court documents.

June

Abrego Garcia was in jail when Vasquez Sura was five months into a high-risk pregnancy. They got married in a Maryland Detention Center.

October

An immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia’s asylum request but granted him protection from being deported because of a “well-founded fear” of gang persecution. He was released and checked in with ICE yearly. The agency never appealed, and the Department of Homeland Security issued him a work permit, according to court filings.

2025

February

Trump designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization.

March 12

Abrego Garcia was pulled over outside an Ikea store near Baltimore, and an agent told Vasquez Sura she had to retrieve their son from his car or ICE would request Child Protective Services.

Abrego Garcia told Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen he was then taken to a building he believed was in Baltimore, then put on a plane with others to El Salvador.

He was placed in a cell at the Terrorism Confinement Center, also called CECOT, then moved to a prison in Santa Ana.

March 24

An attorney representing Abrego Garcia and his family filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court asking it to intervene in his deportation, according to court records.

March 31

The Trump administration admitted it had mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia due to an “administrative error.” The administration, however, maintained that the federal courts did not have the power to have him returned.

April 4

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Vasquez Sura, recounted at a press conference the last thing her husband told her when he was detained.

“Si fueres fuerte, yo seré fuerte,” he said: “I’ll be strong if you are.”

Hours later, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. by 11:59 p.m. on April 7.

April 6

Xinis issued the same order a second time on April 6, and the Justice Department asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause her ruling.

April 7

The Justice Department made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. Hours later, Chief Justice John Roberts agreed on a pause to the midnight deadline.

April 10

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal, in part, and told the administration it must facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.

April 11

The Trump administration asked for more time to review the Supreme Court’s ruling.

April 14

In a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he’s not going to return or release Abrego Garcia.

April 15

Xinis said in a written order that the Trump administration is ignoring court orders and has “done nothing at all” toward returning Abrego Garcia.

April 16

Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador hoping to meet with Salvadoran officials. The Salvadoran government did not initially let Van Hollen visit Abrego Garcia.

April 17

Hours after he was initially denied entry into the prison, Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia. The senator also said he called Abrego Garcia’s wife to “pass along his message of love,” according to a post on X.

Minutes after Van Hollen shared a photo of the meeting, r President Bukele wrote on X: “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”

April 18

Trump told reporters during a White House briefing that Abrego Garcia was “unbelievably bad” and that he was a member of MS-13. He also highlighted a protective order Abrego Garcia’s wife filed against him in 2021.

Vasquez Suarez said she acted out of caution in filing the order, which was dismissed a month later, and that the couple worked things out privately.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Vasquez Suarez said she and Abrego Garcia were arguing in the car over money. Later, he struck her, leaving her with bruises and a scratch over her left eye. She did not show up to the hearing on the protection order.

April 21

Four additional House Democratic lawmakers — Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California — traveled to El Salvador to check Abrego Garcia’s condition in a Santa Ana prison.