Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who lives in Maryland and is married to a U.S. citizen, was accidentally deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, even though a court had ruled he should be protected from deportation.

Once in El Salvador, he was sent to a high-security prison meant for gang members. The U.S. Supreme Court said the U.S. should help bring him back, but the Trump administration and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele are refusing. Bukele called the idea “preposterous” and said he won’t help return Abrego Garcia.

Trump and Bukele are working closely together on deportation efforts. Trump even asked Bukele to build more prisonsto hold people the U.S. sends there. Despite the mistake, U.S. officials are now labeling Abrego Garcia as a gang member, but no criminal charges have been filed against him in the U.S.

Critics say many people deported to El Salvador are not actually gang members and weren’t given a fair chance to fight the accusation. Human rights groups and the Biden administration have raised concerns about torture, lack of due process, and abuse in El Salvador’s prisons, where thousands of young men have been locked up under Bukele’s hardline policies.

Meanwhile, Trump has praised the prisons and even suggested deporting American citizens who commit crimes, though that would be illegal under U.S. law.

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