The Trump administration has acknowledged a mistake in the deportation of a Maryland father to El Salvador’s infamous mega prison.
More than 250 individuals, labeled as criminals, have been sent to El Salvador’s mega prison, the Center for Terrorism Confinement, known for holding Venezuelan gang members and mass murderers.
This facility, referred to as CECOT, stands as the largest prison in the Americas, with a capacity for up to 40,000 inmates.
The administration has now confirmed an error on their part, which led to the deportation of a Maryland father who had legal protection from deportation.
Although the administration has admitted the mistake, it remains uncertain how the man can return to the U.S., as he is currently under Salvadoran custody, and the administration states they cannot retrieve him.
The situation has emerged in court filings related to the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Despite being granted protected status by an immigration judge in 2019, which should have prevented his deportation, he was sent to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers stated that he had escaped gang violence in El Salvador over ten years ago.
According to a filing disclosed on March 31, “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.”
Before his deportation to the prison, ICE had taken him into custody in mid-March, identifying him as having a prominent role in MS-13, according to a senior ICE official’s court declaration.
Nevertheless, his attorneys argue that he has never been part of or associated with the gang.
Robert Cerna, an acting ICE field office director, provided a possible explanation for the administrative error in his statement.
He stated, “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.”