A legal US citizen was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration because of an “administrative error” as per a court filing on Monday, but US courts lack jurisdiction to order his return from the infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), The Atlantic reported. Kilmar Abrego Garcia came to the US from El Salvador in 2011 and filed for asylum. His asylum request was denied, however, he was granted a 2019 court order preventing his deportation.

“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,” Reuters quoted ICE official Robert Cerna as saying in the court document.

Garcia, who has protected legal status, is married to Jennifer Vasquez Sura and has a 5-year-old kid. Their child is autistic and intellectually disabled, and both parents work full-time jobs, according to NBC News.

Garcia’s deportation is part of a broader crackdown by the Trump administration, which has expelled hundreds of Salvadoran and Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador’s mega prison. On March 15, three planes carrying detainees arrived in the country after Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to fast-track the deportation of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

A federal court judge has, however, blocked Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, and the government has now moved the Supreme Court.

Images released by El Salvador’s presidential press office show prisoners with shaved heads being escorted into the notorious CECOT facility, each accompanied by masked guards. Sura only learned of her husband’s deportation after recognising him in a photo released by the Salvadoran government. Although the faces in the image were obscured, she identified him by his tattoos and scars. She has since filed a lawsuit in a Maryland district court, urging Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to facilitate his return. However, US courts lack jurisdiction to intervene in his release.

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The government has accused Garcia of being an active MS-13 gang member, but his lawyers deny this, arguing that the allegation stems from an informant’s claim and that no concrete evidence has ever been presented. Garcia, they say, fled El Salvador to escape gang violence after criminals attempted to extort his family and threatened his life.

Vice President JD Vance shared his views on the case on April 1. He responded to a post by political commentator Jon Favreau on Twitter (now X), who criticised the government for “accidentally sending an innocent father from Maryland to a torture dungeon in El Salvador” and said that they are now refusing to say corrective action. He also tagged United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vance.

Vance said, “…According to the court document you apparently didn’t read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here.” 

“My further comment is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimise,” he added. 

In another post, Vance referenced a 2019 ruling by an immigration judge that classified Garcia as an MS-13 member. “The man is an illegal immigrant with no right to be in our country. Because he is not a citizen, he does not get a full jury trial by his peers. In other words, whatever ‘due process’ he was entitled to, he received,” the Vice President added. 

Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, refutes these claims. “We disagree that he is an MS-13 gang member. The only basis of his gang membership was a confidential informant, there was never any hard and fast proof. There is a judicial process. They could have gone back to the judge who, in 2019, gave him an order of protection, and they could have asked that judge to lift that order. They didn’t do that, they just put him on an airplane,” he was quoted by NBC News as saying.

When questioned about the wrongful deportation, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the error. “Well, first of all, the error that you are referring to was based on a clerical error; it was an administrative error. The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” she said as quoted by NBC News. 

She continued, “That is fact number one. Fact number two: We also have credible intelligence proving that this individual was involved in human trafficking. And fact number three: This individual was a member, actually a leader, of the brutal MS-13 gang, which this president has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.” 

US Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that intelligence reports identify the deported Salvadoran national as an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking, Reuters reported.

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Garcia, a sheet metal worker, was arrested by Homeland Security agents on March 12 after finishing his shift while driving home with his son in the backseat. Officials informed him that his “status had changed”. His wife was given just 10 minutes to pick up their child, or the child would be handed over to Child Protective Services, according to the lawsuit seeking his release.

Despite being questioned about MS-13 ties, Garcia maintained to his wife that he would soon be released after appearing before an immigration judge.