By Ricardo Lezama 
Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran father of three and longtime resident of Maryland, remains imprisoned in El Salvador after being unlawfully deported by the Trump administration and detained with no charges by President Nayib Bukele’s government—despite a U.S. Supreme Court order demanding his return.
A Court-Protected Immigrant, Deported Anyway
In 2019, a U.S. immigration judge ruled that Abrego García was legally entitled to remain in the U.S. due to credible threats from gangs in El Salvador. He was raising a family with his U.S.-citizen wife, including a child with disabilities. He had no criminal record and was in full compliance with immigration law.
But in March 2025, in violation of that court ruling, U.S. immigration agents deported him, sending him straight into the hands of Bukele’s mass incarceration regime. Upon arrival, he was immediately imprisoned at CECOT, a maximum-security prison known for brutal, indiscriminate detentions.
Supreme Court Intervenes — And Is Ignored
On April 10, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego García was illegal and ordered the federal government to facilitate his return and treat his immigration case as if he had never been deported.
But the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE have openly refused to comply. They argue that the courts cannot force the executive to act on foreign soil. This is not a legal strategy—it is executive defiance of the law.
Betrayed By His Own Government — Twice
Meanwhile, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has refused to release Abrego, even though no charges have been filed and the U.S. Supreme Court has publicly denounced the deportation. Bukele’s silence confirms what many already know: his prisons are a political weapon, not a justice system.
In short: Kilmar Abrego García was betrayed by two presidents—Trump and Bukele—who ignored the courts, ignored human rights, and ignored the law. This could be the stepping stone for imprisoning Chicano community members who have U.S nationality but Mexican roots and are often chastised politically for having an identity that predates the formation of the United States.
A Chicano Warning: This Is What Happens When the Law Only Applies to Us
For the Chicano community, this isn’t an exception—it’s the rule. We’ve seen our people targeted, criminalized, and deported even when the law is on our side. From Operation Wetback to the Zoot Suit riots, we’ve lived through every chapter of a government that protects its power before it protects its people.
And now? A man who was protected by U.S. courts, raising a family, paying taxes, and following every rule, is locked away in a foreign prison because he was Brown, poor, and easy to erase.
Congress, Where Are You?
The Supreme Court did its job. The executive branch refused. Now it’s up to Congress to act—or else prove that laws are only enforced when they hurt us, not when they protect us.
If the executive branch can break the law and get away with it, then Congress must intervene. Use its power. Enforce its laws. Or stand exposed as a third branch that watched a man disappear unlawfully and said nothing.