After a Maryland father was mistakenly deported, his community prepares for the worst

Langley Park, Maryland (CNN) — A Maryland mother recently received two calls: One was from her husband, who said he had been pulled over after finishing his construction shift. The other was from Homeland Security, telling her she had just 10 minutes to pick up the couple’s 5-year-old son who was in the car with her husband.

Jennifer Stefania Vasquez Sura raced to her husband’s side to hurriedly place their crying child in a car seat and say goodbye to her husband as he also wept.

“If you are strong, I will be strong,” were the last words he said to Vasquez Sura when he was handcuffed.

Now the shockwaves of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s March 12 arrest and subsequent deportation to El Salvador – which the Trump administration says was a mistake – have spread well beyond the family and are rattling the south-central Maryland community.

District Judge Paula Xinis ruled Friday that Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal worker, should be returned to the United States no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, meaning the case will soon be heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, according to a court filing.

Years prior to his arrest, Abrego Garcia had been deemed a gang member by the Prince George’s County Police Department in part because he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie, and on the word of an informant who said that he was an active member of the MS-13 gang – an allegation his attorneys continually denied, according to a recent court filing. But in 2019, an immigration judge granted him protected status, prohibiting the federal government from sending him to El Salvador.

Abrego Garcia, who attorneys say fled gang violence in El Salvador more than a decade ago, has been sent to CECOT, the country’s notorious mega prison. His son, who has autism, has been finding Abrego Garcia’s work shirts to smell his father’s familiar scent after his arrest, Vasquez Sura said in an affidavit.

“In a blink of an eye, our three children lost their father and I lost the love of my life,” Vasquez Sura said at a press conference in Maryland Friday.

Like many communities across the US, the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has sent a wave of fear through the Central American community in Maryland, whose members told CNN they have been unfairly targeted by the administration or labeled as gang members without evidence. Salvadoran community members, including those who hold green cards or visas, say they have felt unsafe since Abrego Garcia’s arrest as they could – at a moment’s notice – be deported to a country where they face life-threatening danger.

“We’ve seen folks get deported that under the law would not be deported,” said green card holder Jorge Perez, a 25-year-old community organizer in Prince George’s County, Maryland. “What does it say about people with green cards everywhere here in the country? We’re doing the right thing. We’re following the system. We’re doing it as the book says, but then the people in charge are not following their end of the deal.”

Abrego Garcia’s case appears to mark the first time the administration has admitted an error related to its recent deportation flights to El Salvador, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle. But the administration still insists he should remain in detention.

“The individual in question is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang - we have intelligence reports that he is involved in human trafficking,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to CNN Friday. “Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he should be locked up.”

During the Friday hearing, Judge Xinis appeared skeptical about Abrego Garcia’s alleged ties to the MS-13 gang, saying she had not seen sufficient evidence to that effect.

“When someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization, it comes in the form of an indictment, complaint, criminal proceeding that has a robust process,” she said.

Immigration policy experts say the case is consistent with how Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been operating under the new administration: The goal is meeting quotas, rather than targeted enforcement.

“What this case really highlights is how ICE has no regard for due process,” said Cathryn Jackson, public policy director at CASA, an organization that provides legal services to immigrants in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Georgia. “They do not care if you get your day in court. They do not care whether you are guilty or not. Their job right now is to get everyone out.”

To cope with uncertainty two months into Trump’s second term, one of the largest Salvadoran communities in the US is banding together to advocate for their families and prepare for the worst.

Maryland’s Salvadoran community relives surge in hateful rhetoric

When a wave of Salvadorans first migrated to Maryland, there was a stereotype that they were affiliated with gangs like MS-13, Perez said. Use of the harmful trope somewhat declined as the hard-working immigrants positively contributed to their communities and excelled in their careers by starting small businesses throughout the area.

“To see those arguments come back after we’ve established ourselves here and have shown our communities that we are people that wanted to see our communities do better … it’s disappointing and it’s angering,” Perez told CNN from Langley Park, where a large population of Central American migrants resides.

What is enough? That’s a question Perez’s community has for the administration as they follow a legal path to US residency yet still could face deportation to a country they fled, he said.

An estimated 2.5 million people of Salvadoran origin live in the US – making them the third-largest Hispanic population in the country as of 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Maryland is home to the third-largest Salvadoran American population in the country – most concentrated in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, according to George Mason University.

“There’s lots of fear because you see every day that there’s ICE movement or ICE activity somewhere in the state, whether it’s Montgomery County, whether it’s here in Prince George’s County,” Perez said.

“It’s traumatizing,” Perez said of images and videos circulating online showing ICE suddenly arresting Central Americans he says do not pose a threat.

Many Salvadorans come to the US seeking a better life after escaping gang violence and poverty in the country, said Yakie Palma, a second-grade teacher at a local public school.

The US placed El Salvador under Temporary Protected Status designation in 2001, initially due to environmental disaster following two earthquakes. The designation has been renewed several times and will remain through at least September 9, 2026. The designation means “an individual also cannot be detained by DHS on the basis of his or her immigration status in the United States,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Palma said her students’ Salvadoran parents are now terrified to do everyday tasks like pick up their children from school. The young students are also anxious, depressed and sleep deprived, which is impacting their performance on exams and assignments, she said. The students feel safe speaking with Palma in the classroom because she shares their Salvadoran identity, Palma said.

One morning last week, a 7-year-old student came into the classroom tearing up and with dark circles under her eyes. Palma asked her if she was alright, and she declined to speak with her at first. But after Palma sent her to the classroom’s “calm down corner” to play with toys, the student told her that she was afraid she would be deported. That’s despite the student being born in the United States, Palma said.

Countless questions the community has about why Abrego Garcia was deported have been left unanswered, according to Perez. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador “because of an administrative error,” but he can’t be returned because he’s now in Salvadoran custody, the Trump administration argued in a court filing Monday.

“Now we are scared that we could falsely be deported for no apparent reason,” Palma said.

Judge Xinis on Friday repeatedly raised issue with Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador, given the ruling granting him protected status in 2019. Xinis said Abrego Garcia was apprehended last month “without legal basis” and deported “without justification of legal basis.”

Families prepare to leave loved ones behind

During President Donald Trump’s first administration, Perez’s mother was detained by local police officers in Prince George’s County, who then turned her over to ICE. In an earlier incident, Perez stopped attending some of his high school classes after witnessing ICE agents show up outside his family’s apartment early one morning.

This time around, Perez is afraid his green card will suddenly get revoked and he’ll have to leave his family behind. Because of his mom’s experience, Perez now works to educate his community and teach them their rights as immigrants.

To prepare for potential deportation, Perez advises families in his community to ready legal documents and ensure their children have a designated legal guardian. If there is no signed warrant, he tells them not to open their doors when an immigration officer comes knocking.

“Oftentimes this is a reality or something parents don’t want to hear. No one ever wants to prepare to lose their child,” Perez said. “No one wants to prepare to one day not come home.”

As for Palma, she tells the students who are afraid for their families that they should always advocate for their loved ones. “When I talk to my students about what’s happening, I tell them that education is important. It is important for us to educate ourselves on what’s going on and try to advocate for what you believe in and advocate for your family,” she said.

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, a union that Abrego Garcia is a member of, encouraged the public to empathize with his family’s situation.

“We all need to imagine if this were to happen to us, one of our family members, one of our friends, taken into custody, illegally deported and not being able to reach out to your loved ones,” said SMART general president Michael Coleman during the Friday press conference. “Deported without any sign of due process … a pillar in which this country was founded.”

Meanwhile, Jackson said CASA is working on three bills to help strengthen immigrant rights in Maryland. The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act aims to limit ICE access to places like schools and hospitals. Another bill, the Maryland Data Privacy Act, prevents ICE from accessing state and local agency data without a warrant. And the Maryland Values Act ends the 287(g) program, which allows local police to act as ICE agents.

“This is not the first time our communities have been under attack. We survived for years in the past,” Perez said. “And we can do it again.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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