Ice admits “administrative error” by deporting the man of Maryland

By Ben Finley

The administration of President Donald Trump recognized in wrongs to wrongly expel a man from Maryland with a protected legal status to a notorious prison in El Salvador, but has to return him to the Federal Guard in the United States due to alleged gang ties.

US immigration and customs officials admitted a legal file on Monday evening to an “administrative error” by expelling the 29 -year -old man, generating an immediate outcry by immigration defenders.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was arrested on March 12 after having done a quarter of work as apprentices in sheets on a construction site in Baltimore, according to a complaint filed by his lawyers.

Abrego Garcia was then sent to a notorious prison in his country of origin, the center for the confinement of terrorism, or Cecot, which, according to activists, is in the grip of abuses and where prisoners are packed in cells and never authorized outside.

He was placed in Cecot despite the decision of an immigration judge in 2019 that he was not expelled in Salvador because he had established that he was “more likely than improbable that he was persecuted by gangs”, according to the complaint of his lawyer.

Abrego Garcia “left El Salvador at around sixteen age, fleeing the violence of the gangs,” said complaint. “From 2006, gang members had tracked down, struck and threatened to kidnap and kill him in order to force his parents to succumb to their growing extortion requests.”

“Although it was accused of” general gang affiliation “, the American government has never produced an iota of evidence in support of this unfounded accusation,” said the complaint, adding that Garcia is neither a member nor affiliated to MS-13 or any other criminal or street gang.

Abrego Garcia’s wife later saw him in photos and video of him in prison, identifying her husband through her distinctive tattoos and two scars on her head, said the complaint.

The Trump administration said in its judicial file that Ice “was aware of its protection against dismissal to Salvador”, but has always expelled Abrego Garcia “due to an administrative error”.

The administration was disputed against his return to the United States, citing alleged gang ties and claiming that it is a danger to the community. The administration said that its gang ties had been confirmed during a 2019 obligation procedure and confirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

“It was surveillance, and the dismissal was made in good faith according to the existence of a final prescription for moving and the alleged subscription of Abrego-Garcia to MS-13,” wrote Robert Cerna, the director of the ICE-acting land office.

Originally published: April 1, 2025 at 9:05 a.m.