The wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abergo Garcia made headlines earlier this year. According to the latest updates, he has now been transferred to a detention center in Pennsylvania from the facility in Virginia. On Friday, September 26, Garcia’s legal team was notified by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the transfer, as reported by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
Garcia was previously held at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia. Now, he has been transferred to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pa. According to CBS News and WHYY, ICE agents claimed that this transfer would “allow Mr. Abergo Garcia’s legal team greater access to him.”
However, his attorneys don’t think so. Their court filing says, “Travel to Moshannon is far more difficult for the members of the defense team based in Nashville, and is not appreciably easier for the New York-based members of the defense team, compared to Farmville.”
In addition, Garcia’s legal team is also concerned about the conditions at Moshannon. In their filing, they cited recent reports of “assault, inadequate medical care, and insufficient food.”
Garcia’s transfer has been confirmed by Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In a statement to PEOPLE, McLaughlin once again accused the man of being a “MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser and child predator.” She said, “We are not going to allow this criminal Salvadoran gang member to be loose on U.S. streets to terrorize American citizens.” However, Garcia has already denied these allegations.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia transferred to Pennsylvania detention facilityhttps://t.co/nWTkGtzjxc
— The Hill (@thehill) September 29, 2025
In March, Kilmar Abergo Garcia, a Maryland father of three, was wrongfully deported to El Salvador. In June, he finally returned to the U.S. He was initially held at the notorious El Salvador prison on charges of human smuggling, including one count of conspiracy to transport aliens and one count of unlawful transportation of undocumented aliens. His legal team has continuously denied these charges, and he has not pleaded guilty to any of them.
Garcia was also accused of being an MS-13 member. Previously, Donald Trump even mistakenly claimed that he had the violent prison gang’s tattoos on his knuckles. However, a fact check at that time revealed that his tattoos were completely different.
When Garcia was first deported back in March, his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told CBS Mornings that she got to know about his deportation after actually seeing a photo of the detainee from the prison.
