Kilmar Abrego Garcia experienced “severe beatings” and “psychological torture” in a notorious high-security prison in El Salvador after he was deported by the Trump administration, according to a new court filing.
The filing in federal court on Wednesday, July 2, also says that Abrego Garcia experienced “severe sleep deprivation” and nutrition so inadequate that he lost 31 pounds while he was at the Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, a 30-year-old native of El Salvador living in Beltsville, Maryland, with legal permission, was mistakenly deported and taken to CECOT in March.
The new details from Abrego Garcia’s treatment at CECOT come as part of a lawsuit filed by his wife against the Trump administration, which is seeking to have the matter thrown out because he has since been returned to the United States.
An indictment accuses Abrego Garcia of conspiring to bring immigrants into the United States illegally from various Central and South American countries. He has pleaded not guilty.
Here’s what else you need to know.
More about the alleged conditions in CECOT
When Abrego Garcia arrived at CECOT on March 15, “he was repeatedly struck by officers when he attempted to raise his head,” according to the court filing.
“Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave,” a prison official told Abrego Garcia, the filing says.
After Abrego Garcia stripped and was issued a prison uniform, he was “kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change his clothes faster,” the filing says. “His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way.”
Abrego Garcia and about 20 other Salvadorans were forced to kneel from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., “with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion,” the filing says. “Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself.”
Though prison officials determined Abrego Garcia wasn’t affiliated with a gang and was kept separate from gang members, guards repeatedly threatened to transfer him to their cells, where they would “tear” him apart, the filing says.
“Screams from nearby cells would … ring out throughout the night without any response from prison guards,” the filing says.
Within the first two weeks, Abrego Garcia “suffered a significant deterioration in his physical condition and lost approximately 31 pounds,” dropping down to about 184 pounds, the filing says.
Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit, which names multiple members of the Trump administration, says that they were “aware that the government of El Salvador tortures individuals detained in CECOT.”
“Indeed, U.S. President Donald Trump has made comments to the press expressing glee and delight at the torture that the Government of El Salvador inflicts upon detainees in CECOT,” the filing adds.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement earlier this week that Abrego Garcia “is a dangerous criminal illegal alien.”
“We have said it for months, and it remains true to this day: he will never go free on American soil,” she said.
More about Abrego Garcia’s case
A federal judge in Tennessee ordered Abrego Garcia’s release last week, though he remained jailed as lawyers wrangle over the logistics.
The father of three was thrust into the spotlight when the Trump administration erroneously deported him in March despite a court order barring the U.S. government from sending him back to El Salvador. Government attorneys said his deportation was an “administrative error.”
In April, a federal judge ruled that the administration had acted illegally in deporting Abrego Garcia and ordered officials to return him to the United States. The Supreme Court upheld that ruling and ordered the administration to begin the process of releasing him, but officials resisted bringing him back until he was indicted on the human smuggling charges in May.
Federal prosecutors want Abrego Garcia to remain behind bars as he awaits trial, arguing that he is a member of the violent gang MS-13, a designated terrorist organization, and could flee or intimidate other witnesses if he is released. Abrego Garcia denies being a member of the gang and contends the charges don’t justify holding him in jail.
Contributing: Michael Collins, Kelly Puente, and Ruben Montoya, USA TODAY
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kilmar Abrego Garcia was tortured in El Salvador prison: Lawyers
