An attorney representing a Maryland man who ICE says it wrongfully deported to El Salvador says he has never seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. government admit to making such a mistake but refuse to correct the error.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia had just finished work March 12 and was on his way to a bus stop to pick up his children when he was pulled over by ICE and arrested.

Abrego Garcia's wife says he was taken to Baltimore, where he was questioned about his alleged ties to the gang MS-13, according to an affidavit. He was then taken to Texas and put on the third deportation flight to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act — a 1798 law invoked by President Donald Trump — despite having the legal status of withholding of removal.

“This is unfair,” his wife told News4 two weeks ago. “You don’t just randomly pick up people and sending them and putting them on a plane.”

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said — without citing evidence — that Abrego Garcia was involved in human trafficking, and despite the error that sent him to El Salvador, he is not returning to the U.S.

“They admit that they made a mistake in this case,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney. “Obviously, the evidence is so airtight that they couldn’t possibly deny having made a mistake. But now that they’ve made this mistake, their attitude towards this case is, ‘Well, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of options. He is in El Salvador’s hands, now. You got a problem? Go talk to them.’ We don’t accept that.”

Sandoval-Moshenberg said he has never seen the government take such a hardened stance.

“We’re going to court on Friday afternoon,” he said. “We’re asking the judge to order that the U.S. government ask nicely, right? That’s the first step; that’s gotta be the first step. Our government has ties to the Salvadoran government up and down, right? We’re in constant communication and coordination with them.”

News4 asked the Department of Homeland Security what evidence it has showing Abrego Garcia was in a gang and involved in human trafficking.

“The judge found he was in MS-13 and then granted him protection from a rival gang,” a DHS spokesperson said.

“The basis for that allegation in 2019 was a confidential informant, you know, one of these anonymous tips,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “There was never any concrete evidence produced.”

The government says the order to send Abrego Garcia to El Salvador was an “oversight” and was done “in good faith" and that there was a final order for his removal.

In the past when the government made a mistake in an immigration case, it tried to correct it, Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

Abrego Garcia was given the status of withholding of removal in 2019, according to attorney Lucia Curiel. A document she provided shows the status was granted and cites a clause that provides restriction on deportation but has exceptions in which the person can be removed, such as reasonable grounds to believe the person is a danger.

Curiel said Abrego Garcia was accused by Prince George’s County police of wearing a gang shirt in March 2019. The claim wasn’t substantiated, she said, but she believes that may be the reason he was targeted for deportation.

Abrego Garcia was suspected of being a gang member after he was seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie, a lawsuit says. A confidential informant advised he was an MS-13 member, according to the document.

In an ICE document, Robert Cerna, an acting ICE field office director, said Abrego Garcia was arrested because of his “prominent role in MS-13.” Cerna said elsewhere in the document that he was removed because of his “purported membership in MS-13.”

A hearing will be held Friday afternoon in federal court in Greenbelt.

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