ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Trump administration is acknowledging that it deported a man to a Salvadoran mega prison by mistake. That admission came in court papers filed last night in the case of a Maryland father who had protected legal status in the U.S. The White House says it has no intention of bringing him back, despite the, quote, "administrative error" that led to his deportation. NPR's Joel Rose is following this, and he's in the studio. Hey, Joel.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Who is this man, and why was he deported?
ROSE: His name is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He's originally from El Salvador, has been living in Maryland since 2011 when he fled his native country because of gang threats. In 2019, he was arrested in the U.S. and was accused by another man of being a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia was not charged with a crime, although he was put into removal proceedings in immigration court. He fought that case, and he won. Ultimately, an immigration judge granted a form of legal protection called withholding of removal because it found that Abrego Garcia was more likely than not to face harm if he was sent back to El Salvador. In spite of that, ICE officers arrested Abrego Garcia in Maryland last month outside a relative's home, and a few days later, he was deported to El Salvador along with hundreds of other men who are accused of being members of MS-13 or the Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua.
SHAPIRO: Well, now that the administration has admitted it made a mistake, what happens to the man?
ROSE: Abrego Garcia's lawyers want the Trump administration to bring him back, but so far, the White House is refusing to do that. Lawyers for the Trump administration say there was a paperwork error that led to his deportation, but they argue that federal courts do not have the authority to order his return because he is already out of the country in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Abrego Garcia's lawyers vehemently disagree with that. They say the Trump administration should have gone back to immigration court if it wanted to deport him. Here's his attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg speaking today with NPR's Here & Now.
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SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG: If they are allowed to deport people whom the law prohibits them from deporting, then those laws are meaningless, right? We might as well not even have immigration courts. We might as well not even have immigration laws if the government can just ignore those courts' orders, can just ignore those laws, and then take the position that there's nothing that anyone can do about it after the fact.
ROSE: Sandoval-Moshenberg says the Trump administration should start by simply asking El Salvador to return his client.
SHAPIRO: Is there any chance of the White House doing that? What are you hearing from the administration?
ROSE: Well, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt today acknowledged that Abrego Garcia was deported in error, but she also claimed that he is not innocent.
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KAROLINE LEAVITT: The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang.
ROSE: Leavitt accused Abrego Garcia of involvement in human trafficking and being a leader of MS-13, and she doubled down on the unsupported claim made by Vice President JD Vance that he is a convicted gang member. But there is no evidence to support any of that, and Leavitt did not provide any today. Abrego Garcia's lawyers say he has never been convicted of a crime in the U.S. or any other country, and they deny that he is a member of MS-13.
SHAPIRO: This is just the latest indication that the Trump administration made mistakes when it quickly deported hundreds of men to El Salvador. Where does this case fit into the bigger picture?
ROSE: Yeah. This appears to be the first time the Trump administration has acknowledged an error. The White House still maintains that all of the men it deported to El Salvador were gang members, although it has released little evidence to support those claims. We have heard from families and lawyers, though, for a growing number of these men who say they're not gang members - that they were deported largely, if not entirely, based on their tattoos and that they had no due process, no chance to contest those allegations.
And it is not just progressive immigrant advocates who are expressing concern about these deportations. The popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who has supported President Trump, also weighed in over the weekend. Rogan said it is, quote, "horrific" to imagine innocent people sent to a Salvadoran prison and that, quote, "mistakes like that have to be corrected," unquote, if you want reasonable people to support what you're doing. But that is not the way the White House is approaching this - at least, not so far.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Joel Rose. Thank you.
ROSE: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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