Kilmar Abrego Garcia alleges he was tortured in El Salvador prison
July 3 (UPI) -- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported in March, alleged in court documents filed Wednesday that he was tortured in an El Salvador prison.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia filed an amended complaint in his lawsuit against the Trump administration that outlines what happened with him after he was deported to the Central American country on March 15.
Abrego Garcia told his lawyers that he was subjected to severe mistreatment upon arrival at El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center mega prison, enduring alleged severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition and psychological torture.
"Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn't leave," a prison official told the detainees, including Abrego Garcia, who recounted his ordeal to his lawyers.
Abrego Garcia alleged that he was forced to strip and issued prison clothing while authorities kicked him in the legs with boots and hit him on the head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was then shaved and he was marched to a cell while he was struck by wooden batons along the way.
"By the following day, plaintiff Abrego Garcia had visible bruises and lumps all over his body," the lawyers wrote in the court documents.
The detainees were then allegedly forced to kneel for around nine hours overnight as guards beat anyone who fell from exhaustion. "Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself," his lawyers wrote.
Later, authorities separated detainees who had visible gang-related tattoos from those who did not. Still, Abrego Garcia was threatened with being sent to the cells where alleged gang members would "tear" him apart.
Abrego Garcia lost 31 pounds in the first two weeks of his detention and he was eventually transferred to another prison in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
The latest court documents also lay into the Trump administration for its actions since Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported, including defiance of orders by a federal judge to bring him back to the United States until he was abruptly returned in early June.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was returned to last month to face two federal charges in Tennessee related allege migrant smuggling.
He is currently being held in Nashville.
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