The Trump administration admitted an "administrative error" but said it cannot return him.

12:29, Sat, Apr 5, 2025 | UPDATED: 12:33, Sat, Apr 5, 2025

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been mistakenly deported (Image: CASA via AP)

Donald Trump has been ordered to return a US resident mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in his home country of El Salvador's notorious prison. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a protected legal US resident who has lived in Maryland since 2011, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to El Salvador last month.

US District Judge Paula Xinis denounced it an "illegal act" and ordered government to arrange for his return by April 7, after Garcia's wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura put forward a legal challenge. Despite admitting Garcia's deportation was an "administrative error", the Trump administration said it could not return him as they do not have jurisdiction over El Salvador. Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni agreed Garcia should not have been removed, and he said he was unable to tell the judge why Garcia was arrested and sent to El Salvador, and why the US could not retrieve him.

Protestors stand outside the U.S. Distri

Protestors rallied to fight for the return of Garcia (Image: Getty)

It follows a ruling made by an immigration judge in 2019 that Mr Garcia should be protected from deportation to El Salvador as he likely faced persecution from local gangs.

US Vice President JD Vance insisted Mr Garcia was a member of the international criminal gang MS-13, citing an anonymous testimony from the 2019 ruling that said he was a member in New York - a city Mr Garcia has never lived in.

Mr Garcia's lawyers reiterated that he has no affiliation and added US government "has never produced an iota of evidence" that he does.

His wife urged supporters to keep fighting for the return of her husband and "all the Kilmars out there whose stories are still waiting to be heard," at community centre rally in Hyattsville, Maryland.

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She added: "It's a journey that no one ever should ever have to suffer, a nightmare that feels endless."

The notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador is known as one of the toughest in Central America, where inmates sleep on metal beds in crowded cells and wash in shared basins.

It was built by President Nayib Bukele to crack down on rates of organised crime - which have drastically fallen - but human rights organisations have questioned his actions after he reportedly imprisoned around 1% of his country’s population, largely under martial law.