US President Donald Trump The administration wrongly expelled a Salvadoran as part of three high -level expulsion flights to El Salvador Last month, after the decision of a judge, prohibited the dismissal of the man to his country of origin, according to a legal file on Monday.
Man’s lawyers, Kilmer Abrego-Garcia, challenged the allegations of the United States government that he was a member of the Gang MS-13 and had demanded his immediate return to the United States, the government, however, said that he did not have the legal power to bring him back from Salvador.
The White House still claims that the man was a member of the MS-13 gang and alleged that he had been involved in the trafficking of human beings.
“The administration maintains the post that this person, who was expelled in Salvador and will not return to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious gang of MS-13,” said the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, to journalists during a Tuesday briefing.
Leavitt said that “credible intelligence” has shown that it was involved in the trafficking of human beings and that he was a leader of the famous Gang MS-13, but did not reveal what this intelligence was.
“Foreign terrorists no longer have legal protections in the United States of America,” said Leavitt.
On March 15, Trump invoked the law on extraterrestrial enemies of 1798 to quickly expel the alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren from Aragua. The administration said it had sent two flights to El Salvador that day carrying deportees treated under the law rarely used in wartime and a third flight carrying persons expelled under other rules.
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In the Monday file, an official of the application of the US immigration and customs forces said that Greo-Garcia had been wrongly placed on the third flight despite a 2019 judgment granting him protection.
“Thanks to an administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was withdrawn from the United States in Salvador,” said Robert Cerna, head of the ICE, in the court document. “It was surveillance, and the dismissal was made in good faith according to the existence of a final order of moving and the alleged subscription of Abrego-Garcia to MS-13.”
The Trump administration invoked the 18th century law to expel Venezuelans and Salvadorals, it alleges that members of violent gangs were part of its repression of immigration.
The representatives of certain deportees denied any gang link, and the American courts temporarily blocked the use of the law while hearing judicial disputes.
ABREGO-GARCIA lawyers, on March 28, called on the Maryland American district court to order his return to the United States and interrupt American funding for his detention at the Mega-Prisoner in Salvador, which they called a “notorious torture chamber”.
In a legal file on Monday, the Trump administration said that the US government did not have the power to bring it back because it was no longer in police custody.
The spokesman for the American internal security department, Tricia McLaughlin, said that “intelligence reports” have shown that Greo-Garcia was a member of MS-13 and involved in the trafficking of human beings. It has provided no other details.
Abrego-Garcia’s wife and the five-year-old son are American citizens and reside in Maryland, the family’s legal complaint said.
Abrego-Garcia was arrested by ice officers while driving on March 12 and handcuffed while his son, who is autism and is unable to communicate verbally, was at the back of the car, said the complaint.
The ice official said that the agency was aware of the prescription of the previous court blocking the withdrawal of Abrego-Garcia. He was not on the initial manifesto of the flight of March 15, but was assigned to theft as “another” while other people were withdrawn from the flight for various reasons, said the official.
The State Department said on Monday that 17 additional “violent criminals” of the Tren gangs from Aragua and MS-13 were withdrawn on Sunday evening and expelled in Salvador.
The press release indicates that the murderers and the rapists were among them but did not give details of the alleged nationalities or crimes of the abducted persons. The office of the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, however said that the Salvadoran and the Venezuelans were among the prisoners.
“These criminals will no longer terrorize our communities and our citizens,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the press release. “Once again, we extend our gratitude to President Bukele and the Government of Salvador for their unprecedented partnership.”
– with additional files from the Associated Press