Lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Wednesday continued their push to keep their civil case against the Trump administration alive, requesting to amend the lawsuit to include what they describe as the “torture and mistreatment” he experienced at El Salvador’s notorious mega prison, where he was wrongfully deported and held earlier this year.
In court documents filed in federal court in Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s legal team alleges the Salvadoran national “was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival” at the Center for Terrorism Confinement, “including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture.”
When Abrego Garcia arrived at the prison, his head was shaved and he was kicked and “struck on his head and arms,” which left “visible bruises and lumps all over his body,” according to the filing.
Abrego Garcia and 20 others were then made to kneel overnight, with prison guards striking those who fell, his attorneys said – “During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself,” the filing added.
The lawyers describe where Abrego Garcia was first held as a windowless, “overcrowded” cell, with metal bunks without mattresses, “bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.”
Lawyers also claimed in the filing that at one point, Abrego Garcia and four other detainees were transferred to a different part of the prison to take photos “with mattresses and better food,” which they said “appeared to be staged to document improved conditions.”
He remained at the mega prison for nearly a month before he was transferred to a facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador. During the first two weeks, his lawyers claim Abrego Garcia lost around 31 pounds.
The request to revise the lawsuit comes as Justice Department attorneys have argued that the case is moot because the government has returned Abrego Garcia to the US to face human smuggling charges.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argued in Wednesday’s filing that including details of his time in the prison “is essential to present a complete picture of the violations and ensure adequate relief.”
In a statement to CNN, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the claims from Abrego Garcia’s lawyers as a “sob story.”
“Once again the media is falling all over themselves to defend Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” McLaughlin said. “The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story. We hear far too much about gang members and criminals’ false sob stories and not enough about their victims.”
Abrego Garcia’s wife and lawyers have denied he is part of a gang.
The Maryland man’s case has become a political flashpoint, and he is seen by many critics of the Trump administration – whose admission that he was wrongfully deported brought the case to the national forefront – as the face of the administration’s aggressive crackdown on immigration.
Abrego Garcia remains in federal custody in Tennessee as he faces human smuggling charges. The Trump administration has said it plans to eventually deport him to a country other than El Salvador, where he is from – a detail that Abrego Garcia’s lawyers also asked in Wednesday’s filing to be included in the lawsuit.
The Department of Homeland Security will initiate removal proceedings after Abrego Garcia returns to the agency’s immigration custody, a Justice Department lawyer said during a brief court hearing last week. The attorney said at the time that DHS had not communicated a timeline for the deportation.
While Abrego Garcia will remain in the custody of US Marshals until at least mid-July following a federal magistrate judge’s order earlier this week, the undocumented immigrant still appears to be in limbo on what’s next for him.
Wednesday’s filing also asked that details from a former Justice Department lawyer’s whistleblower letter be included in the lawsuit. CNN reported last week that in the letter, the whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, who worked on the Abrego Garcia case, claimed that top DOJ leaders and judicial nominee tried to mislead judges.
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