Trump admin. concedes Maryland man from El Salvador was mistakenly deported/sent to mega prison - shrugs 'nothing can be done' [ETA: oh but it can!]

[essentialsaltes]

I know some contended that the Trump Administration would surely undo things if it were found to be illegal or in error, and others that sending 'TdA' to El Salvador was an invincible PR coup for the president.

Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison​

The Trump administration conceded in a court filing Monday that it mistakenly deported a Maryland father to El Salvador “because of an administrative error” and argued it could not return him because he’s now in Salvadoran custody.

The filing stems from a lawsuit over the removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who in 2019 was granted protected status by an immigration judge, prohibiting the federal government from sending him to El Salvador.

The filing, first reported by The Atlantic, appears to mark the first time the administration has admitted an error related to its recent deportation flights to El Salvador, which are now at the center of a fraught legal battle.

“On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the Trump administration filing states.

 

[wing2000]

Abrego Garcia, who attorneys say fled gang violence in El Salvador more than a decade ago, had been identified by his wife in a photo of detainees entering intake at El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison CECOT.

....and now imprisoned with the very gang members he fled.

Make no mistake about it - the US Government could retrieve him from the Salvadoran prison if it wanted to.....(assuming he's still alive).

 

[GoldenBoy89]

I’m sure this is just one single, isolated incident and the administration is very sorry and pinky promises it won’t happen again just like their national security lapse last week.

 

[Goonie]

Working as intended.

 

[Nithavela]

Remember: cruelty is the goal.

 

[7thKeeper]

 

[Servus]

Surely no one has ever been mistakenly deported during any other administrations.

 

[wing2000]

Surely no one has ever been mistakenly deported during any other administrations.

I'm sure they have (though the chances of that happening go down with the normal deportation process). The difference is prior administrations would make some effort to correct their mistake.

 

[Belk]

Surely no one has ever been mistakenly deported during any other administrations.

To an El Salvador gulag housing those trying to kill him? No, I'm guessing not.

 

[Servus]

I'm sure they have (though the chances of that happening go down with the normal deportation process). The difference is prior administrations would make some effort to correct their mistake.

What would the other administrations have done that the Trump administration hasn't/isn't? Would the other administrations have employed some form of extradition the Trump administration hasn't? If so could you describe the process? Or is it the other admins would have sent in some team to break the person out of El Salvadorian custody? Or is this just one of those completely undefinable "they would have done something, I don't know what, but something" deals?

 

[wing2000]

What would the other administrations have done that the Trump administration hasn't/isn't? Would the other administrations have employed some form of extradition the Trump administration hasn't? If so could you describe the process? Or is it the other admins would have sent in some team to break the person out of El Salvadorian custody? Or is this just one of those completely undefinable "they would have done something, I don't know what, but something" deals?

Call the President of El Salvador and request the person to be returned. El Salvador has done everything the Trump administration has asked to date. There's no reason to think they would refuse this request.

 

[Servus]

Call the President of El Salvador and request the person to be returned. El Salvador has done everything the Trump administration has asked to date. There's no reason to think they would refuse this request.

How do we know that hasn't happened or isn't going to happen?

 

[wing2000]

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday acknowledged the administrative error that led to Abrego Garcia’s deportation but added, without providing evidence, that he “was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang.” She later said he was an MS-13 “leader.”

Pressed to provide evidence for that claim, Leavitt said, “There’s a lot of evidence, and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have that evidence, and I saw it this morning.”

Of course she did....

The Prince George’s County Police Department deemed him a gang member because “he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie” and “a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the Westerns clique,” according to a court document.

Efforts to get more information from police during his 2019 immigration proceedings weren’t fruitful, according to his attorney, who has said in court documents that Abrego Garcia is not a member of nor affiliated with MS-13.

Documents from the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from 2019 note that Abrego Garcia had been charged with traffic offenses, but that he rebutted the allegation of affiliations with MS-13.


An immigration judge eventually granted Abrego Garcia withholding of removal, meaning he could suffer persecution if removed from the US to El Salvador. He was still considered removable; it just couldn’t be to El Salvador.

[For obvious reasons....]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/01/politics/maryland-father-mistakenly-deported-el-salvador-prison/index.html

 

[wing2000]

How do we know that hasn't happened or isn't going to happen?

If it had happened, the man would be on a plane by now. It won't happen because this administration could care less.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

If it had happened, the man would be on a plane by now. It won't happen because this administration could care less.

Sadly it’s not just the administration who couldn’t care less. A lot of fans of this president seem to enjoy or have no problem defending the deliberate cruelty of his policies.

 

[Servus]

If it had happened, the man would be on a plane by now. It won't happen because this administration could care less.

Based on what I've read, this isn't the first time this has happened to Abrego Garcia. And the complaint is that it isn't being taken care of fast enough. Also I bet if it is a few days from now, mainstream media won't say much if anything about it, and will have another outrage story in its place.

 

[wing2000]

Based on what I've read, this isn't the first time this has happened to Abrego Garcia.

This isn't the first time for what?

 

[Servus]

This isn't the first time for what?

This isn't the first time he's been deported.

 

[wing2000]

This isn't the first time he's been deported.

He has not been deported previously. Detained - yes, but not deported.

Court filings show that Abrego Garcia came to the United States at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in his native El Salvador. In 2019 he received a form of protected legal status known as “withholding of removal” from a U.S. immigration judge who found he would likely be targeted by gangs if deported back.

Abrego Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 5-year-old disabled child who is also a U.S. citizen, has no criminal record in the United States, according to his attorney.

An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison

 

[Servus]

He has not been deported previously. Detained - yes, but not deported.

Court filings show that Abrego Garcia came to the United States at age 16 in 2011 after fleeing gang threats in his native El Salvador. In 2019 he received a form of protected legal status known as “withholding of removal” from a U.S. immigration judge who found he would likely be targeted by gangs if deported back.

Abrego Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen and has a 5-year-old disabled child who is also a U.S. citizen, has no criminal record in the United States, according to his attorney.

An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison

Okay. It was late and I probably read it wrong.