The US government has deported a man to El Salvador for alleged gang membership – wrongly. The authorities now admitted an “administrative error”. But the man could not return.
The Trump government accidentally had a man from the US state of Maryland deported to a prison in El Salvador. Officials from the US immigration and customs authority ICE admitted an “administrative error” that made it possible to deport the man.
In a court file it says that the ICE “was aware of its protection against El Salvador”. “An oversight” still led to it. Nevertheless, the government spoke out against a return to the United States because the 29-year-old is accused of connections to criminal gangs by the authorities. Government lawyers said US courts now have no opportunity to obtain their release.
The man's lawyers emphasized that he did not belong to the MS-13 street passage or another gang of criminals, and argue that the US government had never presented evidence. The MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is one of eight Latin American criminal organizations that the Trump government classified in February as foreign terrorist organizations.
Disgrace High security prison
The 29-year-old was arrested in Baltimore on March 12. According to reports from the New York Times, the person concerned sits in the “Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo” (CECOT). It is the most dreaded prison of El Salvador – a country that is notorious for its brutal prison policy. His wife apparently later recognized him in photos and videos from prison.
According to his lawyers, the man was illegally entered into the USA from El Salvador in 2011 from El Salvador “while fleeing gangs” and had made his way to Maryland his older brother, a US citizen. He is now married to a American. The couple has a son and two children from the previous relationship of the woman.
Deportations despite the legal dispute
Despite an ongoing legal dispute, the US government had recently deported people to El Salvador several times. The reason was that they were “dangerous criminals”, “murderer and rapist”.
In the case that had now been objected to, the White House stated that the man was “leader of the brutal MS-13 gang” from the Central American country.
