Trump admin acknowledges 'administrative error' in deporting Maryland man to El Salvador prison

The Trump administration has acknowledged in a court filing to having made an "administrative error" in the deportation last month of a Maryland man back to El Salvador.

The individual, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, had a legal order that prohibited him from being sent home.

"Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador," said Robert Cerna, an acting director of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in south Texas.

"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 [the gang] MS-13."

Cerna said Garcia was deported March 15 in a series of flights of alleged illegal gang members to El Salvador. 

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday pushed back against reports that Garcia was allowed to be in the U.S.

"In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the first Trump administration) determined that the deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang," Vance wrote on the social media platform, X. "He also apparently had multiple traffic violations for which he failed to appear in court. A real winner."

Vance said that since Garcia was not in the country legally, he isn't obligated to a jury trial by peers.

"Because he is not a citizen, he does not get a full jury trial by peers," Vance wrote. "In other words, whatever 'due process' he was entitled to, he received."

Garcia is a Maryland resident who got a legal status known as "withholding of removal" in 2019 after a judge determined he would be persecuted by gangs if he went to El Salvador. 

The Trump administration is opposing a request for Garcia to be brought back to the U.S., according to CBS News.