U.S. Immigration Judge David M. Jones granted Kilmar Abrego Garcia in 2019 a “withholding of removal” order after, claiming the risk the citizen of El Salvador would face persecution at the hands of Central American gang Barrio 18 was too high for him to be deported to Guatemala, according to the text of the order. However, Abrego Garcia has maintained the order applied to El Salvador.
Though concerns related to the presence of Barrio 18 were enough for Jones to issue the “withholding of removal,” the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections last year released a Salvadoran national, Brayan Eleazar Angulo-Barrios, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who reported it filed a request to detain him in April 2024.
Prince George’s County did not honor the request, allowing Angulo-Barrios to roam freely in Arizona for one year prior to his arrest last week.
According to ICE, Angulo-Barrios is confirmed to be a member of Barrio 18 and was convicted in Maryland of having a loaded handgun, as well as drugs that he intended to distribute. He was arrested for allegedly violating the terms of his probation in April 2024, when ICE said it placed a detainer with the jail, but he was nonetheless released into the state.
ICE reported last week that Brayan Eleazar Angulo-Barrios, a citizen of El Salvador, was arrested in Hyattsville, Maryland, after the county jail “failed to honor another ICE immigration detainer.”
“Once again, Prince George’s County — a non-cooperative jurisdiction has chosen to release a criminal alien back into the community, ignoring an ICE detainer and putting public safety at risk,” ICE Baltimore Deputy Field Office Director Vernon Liggins stated in a press release.
The ICE spokesman said the Maryland county’s policy “prioritizes non-cooperation over addressing public safety threats while individuals are in custody with the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections,” and forces ICE “to expand our at-large operations within Prince George’s County.”
Liggins added that Angulo-Barrios “was convicted of serious crimes that threaten the well-being of law-abiding citizens,” and urged Maryland law enforcement agencies to honor detention requests.
The confirmation that Barrio 18 was present in the state where Abrego Garcia moved to flee the reach of the gang, as he told the court in 2019, comes as Abrego Garcia appeals his recent deportation to El Salvador under the Trump administration.
Two judges have determined Abrego Garcia is likely a member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a competing gang to Barrio 18, but Abrego Garcia denies this claim. The Trump administration recently designated MS-13 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
