The Trump administration erroneously deported a man it alleges is a gang member in Maryland back to El Salvador as part of its March 15 deportation flights despite a judge's ruling prohibiting his removal, according to a court filing on Monday.
Lawyers for the man, Kilmer Abrego-Garcia, in a separate filing said he is not a member of the MS-13 gang and demanded his immediate return to the United States.
In Monday's filing, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Abrego-Garcia was on a third flight deporting people under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act "in error" despite a 2019 judgment granting him protection.
"Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador. This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia’s purported membership in MS-13," the filing said.
The Trump administration invoked the 18th-century law to deport Venezuelans and Salvadoreans it alleges are violent gang members as part of its sweeping immigration crackdown.
Representatives for some deportees have denied any gang ties, and the courts have temporarily blocked use of the law amid legal challenges.
Abrego Garcia's lawyers, in a March 28 filing, called on the U.S. District Court in Maryland to order his return to the United States and halt U.S. funding of his detention at the mega-prison in El Salvador, which they called a "notorious torture chamber."
"Where the government casts aside laws and the orders of courts, including administrative courts, state power consists solely of the capacity to commit violence," they wrote, noting that the U.S. government could have taken other steps to challenge the 2019 ruling.
ICE said it was aware of the earlier court order blocking Abrego Garcia's removal, and that he was arrested on March 12 over his alleged MS-13 role and transferred to the staging area for the deportation flights.
He was not on the March 15 flight's initial manifest, but was assigned to the flight as "an alternate" as other people were removed from the flight for various reasons, it added.
