WP: (2019) "In March 2019, Prince George's County, Maryland, police arrested Abrego Garcia with three other men in a Home Depot parking lot where they were see

WP: (2019) "In March 2019, Prince George's County, Maryland, police arrested Abrego Garcia with three other men in a Home Depot parking lot where they were seeking work as day laborers.[2][8] One of the men claimed Abrego Garcia was a "gang member," but The Atlantic reported that according to court filings, the man offered no proof and police said they did not believe him.[8] Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime in connection to his arrest.[20]" "Police handed custody of Abrego Garcia over to ICE for deportation proceedings. In those proceedings, the government claimed that he was a member of the MS-13 criminal gang because "he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie" and a confidential informant claimed that he was active with an MS-13 group based in New York,[2] where he has never lived. [15] An immigration judge determined that the informant's claim[21] was sufficient evidence for denying Abrego Garcia’s bond request, and another judge upheld that ruling, saying the claim that Abrego Garcia was in MS-13 for purposes of the bond determination was not clearly wrong.[19] However, no court has ever “full adjudicat[ed]” this issue.[19] Abrego Garcia has consistently denied any connection to MS-13.[22]" (2025) "On April 5, the Department of Justice appealed the ruling to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.[39] The following day, Judge Xinis issued a 22-page opinion reaffirming her previous ruling. The opinion stated the deportation "shocks the conscience" and was "wholly lawless."[35] She also said that while there were previous assertions that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13, the government has presented "no evidence" Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13 and had essentially abandoned that argument in her court.[35] The judge noted that while the government had presented no evidence that Abrego Garcia was a member of a gang, by publicly labeling him a member of MS-13, the government had placed Abrego Garcia at risk in the detention facility because El Salvador "intentionally mixes rival gang members" in the facility.[35] Xinis stated in her opinion: "Defendants seized Abrego Garcia without any lawful authority; held him in three separate domestic detention centers without legal basis; failed to present him to any immigration judge or officer; and forcibly transported him to El Salvador in direct contravention of [immigration law]."[35] " The random accusation that he was in MS-13 despite committing no crimes, that this warranted deportation despite entering no immigration courts, that it did not just warrant deportation but a proprietary black site torture camp, is identically as valid as the accusation I am making right now that you are a member of MS-13 because of the clothes you're wearing right now (which are Known To Be Worn By MS-13 Members), and must be disappeared by the authorities immediately. You have no opportunity to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're not a 'terrorist'; It is to be stipulated.