Maryland father Kilmar Ábrego García had his asylum bid denied by a Baltimore immigration judge on Thursday.
Ábrego, who gained widespread attention after the Trump administration wrongfully deported him to El Salvador in March, will have 30 days to appeal.
The administration returned the Salvadorian national, who has a protected status, to the U.S. in June after mounting pressure from activists and a Supreme Court order directing officials to “facilitate” his return.
In March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) blamed his deportation on an “administrative error,” according to court documents.
However, on his return, he was immediately slapped with human smuggling charges and detained in Tennessee.
Days after his release, he was detained again by ICE in Baltimore as part of a scheduled immigration check-in.
His lawyers have denied the charges and the Trump administration’s campaign to tie him to the MS-13 gang.
In June, President Donald Trump called him “horrible,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi held a press conference to announce the charges and launch abuse claims.
In August, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X, echoing Bondi’s claims against the Maryland father, saying he’s an “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator.”
Ábrego holds no criminal convictions.
His lawyers have filed motions with a Tennessee federal judge, requesting a gag order on top officials, out of fear that their comments may prevent Ábrego from getting a fair trial.
It is unclear whether the judge’s authority can extend to the DHS, which posted on X on Wednesday that he “is not going to be able to remain” in the U.S.
The Salvadorian national immigrated illegally as a teenager in 2011, but married an American mother of two, fathering a child with her.
A judge’s 2019 order barred his deportation to the Central American country, citing he had proved a “well-founded fear of future persecution” from local gangs.
Ábrego, who has a six-year-old son with special needs and works full-time as a union sheet-metal apprentice, faces new deportation plans to Uganda, then Eswatini.
