Attorneys for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was deported to a supermax prison in El Salvador because of an “administrative error,” have filed a court complaint detailing brutal instances of torture he allegedly endured at the facility.
The July 2 filing was submitted as part of a lawsuit against the Trump administration over Abrego Garcia’s deportation. It details how he was beaten, kicked and subjected to psychological abuse on a daily basis as an inmate at CECOT, a prison known for its inhumane conditions.
“The media’s sympathetic narrative about this criminal illegal gang member has completely fallen apart, yet they continue to peddle his sob story,” said Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary of public affairs, in a statement responding to the filing.
The beatings allegedly began as soon as Abrego Garcia boarded a bus from an airport in El Salvador to the prison. He was “repeatedly struck by officers when he attempted to raise his head” while in the vehicle, and upon arrival at the facility, he was “kicked in the legs with boots” and again struck on the head and arms to make him change his clothing more quickly.
Guards continued to strike him with wooden batons as they marched him to his cell. “By the following day, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia had visible bruises and lumps all over his body,” the filing reads.
The violence was a routine aspect of life in the prison. Inmates in Abrego Garcia’s cell “were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion,” according to the filing. “During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself.”
Abrego Garcia also notes that inmates whom he believed were gang members would violently attack each other in the evening with little interference from guards.
“Screams from nearby cells would similarly ring out throughout the night without any response from prison guards on personnel,” the filing reads.
Within his first two weeks at CECOT, Abrego Garcia says he dropped 31 pounds as his physical condition deteriorated dramatically.
Throughout this time, Abrego Garcia notes that he did not have access to counsel or any opportunity to contact family members until Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) visited on April 17.
After admitting that he was deported due to an “administrative error,” the Trump administration resisted returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S. until early June. Abrego Garcia currently remains in federal custody, and the Justice Department has said that he will be tried for smuggling charges before he’s potentially deported again.
Abrego Garcia’s filing emphasizes the horrors that immigrants deported to CECOT have faced, the broader abuses that are prevalent in immigrant detention and the appalling civil rights violations that have occurred as the Trump administration has sought to ramp up mass deportations.
CECOT has been condemned by multiple human rights organizations for its horrific treatment of prisoners, who never see sunlight and are crammed into crowded cells that can hold 80 people at a time.