Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was deported from the U.S. during Donald Trump’s presidency, has now returned and is raising serious concerns about how immigration enforcement was handled under the former administration.
Garcia was deported nearly five years ago. At that time, he was living in the U.S. legally under a protected status.
Despite this, he says his rights were ignored and that he was forcibly removed from the country in a way that violated both immigration protocols and his legal protections.
According to Garcia and his legal team, he was taken during an immigration raid that targeted people without proper documentation.
But Garcia wasn’t undocumented—he had Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which allows certain individuals from specific countries to live and work in the U.S. legally due to unsafe conditions in their home countries.
Garcia’s return is not just a personal matter. It has now brought more attention to how TPS holders and other legal residents were affected by Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Critics say that during Trump’s time in office, there were many cases where people were detained or deported despite having legal protections. These actions, they argue, were not just harsh but often unlawful.
Garcia says he lost everything when he was deported—his home, his job, and time with his family. Now that he’s back, he wants to share his story to prevent others from facing the same fate.
Lawyers working on his case are calling for an investigation into how his deportation happened. They believe it’s important to review actions taken during that time and to hold authorities accountable if rules were broken.
The Department of Homeland Security has not yet responded to requests for comment about Garcia’s case.
However, immigration advocates are using this opportunity to highlight the need for stronger oversight and protections for people like Garcia who are in the country legally but may still be targeted.
As the debate around immigration continues to heat up ahead of the 2024 elections, Garcia’s story adds a human face to the policies that often dominate headlines. His case serves as a reminder that immigration enforcement doesn’t just affect statistics—it affects real people and families.