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Donald Trump’s administration has admitted that an error was made when a Maryland father was sent to El Salvador's notorious mega prison.
Over 250 alleged criminals have been deported to El Salvador’s mega prison - the Center for Terrorism Confinement - that is notorious for housing Venezuelan gang members, as well as mass murderers.
The Center for Terrorism Confinement (also known as CECOT) is considered the largest prison in the Americas and can home up to 40,000 inmates.
Now, the Trump administration has acknowledged a mistake on their behalf, which saw a Maryland father with protected legal status be deported to El Salvador.
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While the mistake has been admitted, it is not clear how easily the man can be returned to the US, with the administration saying they currently cannot return him due to him being in Salvadorian custody.
A court filing stems from a lawsuit over the removal of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who is a Salvadoran national, had been granted protected status by an immigration judge back in 2019.
This status should have prohibited the federal government from sending him to the nation.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have said that he had fled gang violence in El Salvador over a decade ago.
The filing, revealed on Monday (March 31), said: "On March 15, although Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error."
Prior to being sent to the prison, he had been arrested by ICE in mid-March 'due to his prominent role in MS-13,' according to a court declaration from a senior ICE official.
However, his attorneys have insisted that he is not a member nor has he ever been affiliated with the gang.
Robert Cerna, an acting ICE field office director, attempted to explain how the administrative error may have occurred in his declaration.
He said: "Abrego-Garcia was not on the initial manifest of the Title 8 flight to be removed to El Salvador. Rather, he was an alternate. As others were removed from the flight for various reasons, he moved up the list and was assigned to the flight.
"The manifest did not indicate that Abrego-Garcia should not be removed. 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."
