ICE Calls Sending Migrant With 5-Year-Old Son to El Salvador Prison 'Administrative Error'

The Trump administration conceded that it sent a Maryland man with protected legal status to El Salvador's infamous CECOT prison by mistake. However, it said it's not able to secure his return due to legal obstacles.

Concretely, lawyers representing Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia were told that since he is no longer in U.S. custody, the court can't order his return to the country. The court can't order El Salvador to return him either, leaving the man, who has a 5-year-old son and a wife who is a U.S. citizen, in limbo.

The man's attorneys detailed that a confidential informant had accused him of being part of the MS-13 gang and that even though he was found removable, a judge "granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador."

However, Abrego-Garcia was told this month that "his immigration status had changed" and was detained over gang affiliations. He was taken to a detention center in Texas and then to El Salvador in mid-March.

Abrego-Garcia's lawyers have rejected he is a member of Venezuelan-born gang Tren de Aragua, MS-13 or "any other criminal or street gang," adding that the government "never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation."

ICE has since admitted that the removal "was an error." The government justified its actions saying Abrego-Garcia was given "the opportunity to give evidence tending to show he was not part of MS-13, which he did not proffer."

Vice President JD Vance defended the decision when questioned, saying he "was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here." "My further comment is that it's gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize."

The ACLU revealed this week criteria used by ICE to determine whether detainees are part of Tren de Aragua. The document applies to undocumented migrants who are citizens of Venezuela and over 14 years old, and provides a series of guidelines to decide whether the person will be removed under the wartime Alien Enemies Act and sent to El Salvador.

Those scoring between 6 and 7 points "may be validated as members of TDA," while those scoring 8 and higher "are validated as members of TDA" and should be removed, the scorecard reads.

The scorecard has five different categories: Judicial outcomes and official documents, self-admission, criminal conduct and information, documents and communications, and symbolism.

Three sub-categories have 10 points, meaning those found to met the criteria will be immediately removed. They are: being convicted of violating Title 18, Section 521 or any other federal or state law criminalizing or imposing civil penalties for activity related to TDA, self-identifying as a member of the gang, even unwillingly, or having phone calls about TDA-related business with known members of the gang.

Several deportees and their family members have challenged criteria used by U.S. authorities, with many claiming that tattoos used to justify deportations are just for aesthetic purposes. Moreover, the gang is not believed to have any identifiers.