By SUSAN HEAVEY and TED HESSON Reuters
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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration erroneously deported a Salvadoran man as part of three high-profile deportation flights to El Salvador last month, after a judge’s ruling prohibited the man’s removal to his home country, a court filing on Monday showed.

Lawyers for the man, Kilmer Abrego-Garcia, disputed U.S. government allegations that he was a member of the MS-13 gang and demanded his immediate return to the United States. The government, however, said it did not have the legal authority to bring him back from El Salvador.

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On March 15, Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

The administration said it sent two flights to El Salvador that day carrying deportees processed under the rarely used wartime statute and a third flight carrying people deported under other rules.

In Monday’s filing, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Abrego-Garcia was wrongfully placed on the third flight despite a 2019 judgment granting him protection from deportation.

Abrego-Garcia’s lawyers on March 28 said that no federal criminal or extradition proceeding were ever brought against him. They called on the U.S. District Court in Maryland to order his return to the United States from the mega-prison in El Salvador and halt U.S. funding for his incarceration.

On Monday, the Trump administration said the U.S. government did not have the authority to bring him back since he was no longer in U.S. custody.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said “intelligence reports” showed Abrego-Garcia was a member of MS-13 and involved in human trafficking. She provided no further details.

Abrego-Garcia’s wife and 5-year-old son are U.S. citizens and reside in Maryland, the family’s legal complaint said.