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By Susan Heavey and Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's administration erroneously deported a Salvadoran man as part of three high-profile deportation flights to El Salvador last month, after a judge's ruling prohibited the man's removal to his home country, a court filing on Monday showed.
Lawyers for the man, Kilmer Abrego-Garcia, disputed U.S. government allegations that he was a member of the MS-13 gang and demanded his immediate return to the United States. The government, however, said it did not have the legal authority to bring him back from El Salvador.
On March 15, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The administration said it sent two flights to El Salvador that day carrying deportees processed under the rarely used wartime statute and a third flight carrying people deported under other rules.
In Monday's filing, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Abrego-Garcia was wrongfully placed on the third flight despite a 2019 judgment granting him protection from deportation.
"Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador," ICE official Robert Cerna said in the court document. "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."
The Trump administration's deportation of Venezuelans and Salvadoreans it alleges are violent gang members are part of its sweeping immigration crackdown. Representatives for some deportees have denied any gang ties and dozens of those sent to El Salvador had active U.S. asylum cases.
A federal judge blocked Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act hours after he invoked the authority but the administration has appealed to the Supreme Court.
DISPUTE OVER GANG MEMBERSHIP
Abrego-Garcia's lawyers on March 28 said that no federal criminal or extradition proceeding were ever brought against him. They called on the U.S. District Court in Maryland to order his return to the United States from the mega-prison in El Salvador and halt U.S. funding for his incarceration.
On Monday, the Trump administration said the U.S. government did not have the authority to bring him back since he was no longer in U.S. custody.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said "intelligence reports" showed Abrego-Garcia was a member of MS-13 and involved in human trafficking. She provided no further details.
Abrego-Garcia's wife and 5-year-old son are U.S. citizens and reside in Maryland, the family's legal complaint said.
On March 12, he was pulled over by ICE officers while driving and handcuffed while his son was in the backseat of the car, according to the complaint.
The ICE official said in Monday's filing that the agency was aware of the earlier court order blocking Abrego-Garcia's removal. He was not on the March 15 flight's initial manifest, but was assigned to the flight as "an alternate" as other people were removed from the flight for various reasons, the filing said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ted Hesson, Editing by David Gregorio and Rosalba O'Brien)
