What to know as deadline looms for Trump administration to return man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

A federal judge insisted Sunday that the Trump administration bring back a Maryland man who was accidentally deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador rejecting efforts to delay a deadline of Monday for his return to the United States NBC News released Kilmar Abrego Garcia a green card holder who is originally from El Salvador and has lived in the United States since was mistakenly deported to the notorious jail on March along with Venezuelan men whom Trump administration personnel claimed were gang members Leadership apprehended Abrego Garcia in an Ikea parking lot March according to his attorney with his -year-old autistic son in the back seat of his car The Trump administration called his deportation an administrative error U S District Judge Paula Xinis commented Friday that the deportation was unlawful and ordered the governing body to return Abrego Garcia to the United States by p m Monday On Saturday Justice Department lawyers urged Xinis to hold off while the administration appealed her order She refused Protests hours ago Protesters in small New York village march to Trump frontier czar's home over family's ICE detention Trump administration Apr Justice Department places attorney who struggled to explain Maryland man's deportation on leave Defendants seized Abrego Garcia without any lawful authority held him in three separate domestic detention centers without legal basis failed to present him to any immigration judge or office and forcibly transported him to El Salvador she wrote Sunday Once there U S representatives secured his detention in a facility that by design deprives its detainees of adequate food water and shelter fosters routine violence and places him with his persecutors It s not clear whether the administration will make the deadline set by Xinis or whether the deadline will hold The appeals court could issue a decision as soon as Sunday night Justice Department lawyers have already claimed they are unable to return Abrego Garcia because he is in Salvadoran custody And the administration has already been accused in another immigration event of skirting if not outright ignoring a judge s order not to deport Venezuelan asylum seekers to the same Salvadoran prison The Justice Department has argued that the court had no power to order Abrego Garcia returned and that it was intruding on President Donald Trump s foreign guidelines powers Xinis shot back at the arguments Sunday They do indeed cling to the stunning proposition that they can forcibly remove any person migrant and U S citizen alike to prisons outside the United States and then baldly assert they have no way to effectuate return because they are no longer the custodian and the court thus lacks jurisdiction As a practical matter the facts say otherwise she wrote Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador and came to the United States to escape gang violence when he was a teenager his lawyer has commented Starting around gang members stalked hit and threatened to kidnap and kill him in an attempt to extort his parents the lawyer commented in a court filing In Abrego Garcia and three other noncitizens were arrested looking for work in front of a Home Depot in Prince George s County Maryland according to the filing Police accused Garcia of involvement in the MS- gang claiming a confidential informant described them he was an current member according to court documents While he was in custody that year Abrego Garcia contested the assertions that he was a gang member and petitioned an immigration judge for an order that would prevent his deportation to El Salvador according to court documents An immigration judge granted his request fearing that his return to El Salvador might end in his torture or death He was published from custody Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not appeal the judge s order But the Trump administration has maintained that Abrego Garcia is a gang member In a motion seeking to prevent Xinis order from taking effect the administration argued without providing any proof that Abrego Garcia is an MS- member and a threat to American national defense The society interest cuts firmly against ordering Abrego Garcia a member of a designated terrorist organization who is in turn no longer eligible for withholding relief back to the United States lawyers for the Justice Department wrote And on the other side of the ledger the lawyers continued Xinis had failed to offer any compelling irreparable harm that would justify this injunction Abrego Garcia s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg has repeatedly disputed the administration s alleges and Xinis has chalked up the governing body s assertions to just chatter In a court of law when someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization it comes in the form of indictment or criminal proceeding so we can assess facts she revealed I haven t seen any of those Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni notified Xinis at a hearing Friday that we concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador and responded I don t know when Xinis demanded why he was being held Xinis referred to the remarks in her opinion Sunday As defendants acknowledge they had no legal authority to arrest him no justification to detain him and no grounds to send him to El Salvador let alone deliver him into one of the greater part dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere she reported Reuveni was placed on leave after his comments in court At my direction every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States Attorney General Pam Bondi explained in a announcement Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences In an interview on Fox News Sunday Bondi likened Reuveni s comments to a defense attorney walking conceding something in a criminal matter That would never happen in this country she disclosed This article first appeared on NBCNews com Read more from NBC News here SNL jokes that Trump s tariffs will Make America Great Depression Again Comedian and actor Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault Tom Cruise pays tribute to Val Kilmer with a moment of silence at CinemaCon