A federal judge has demanded that the Trump administration return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States by Monday night, rejecting attempts to delay the deadline after he was mistakenly deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador. Despite a 2019 court order protecting him from deportation, Abrego Garcia, a legal U.S. resident originally from El Salvador, was wrongly removed on March 15 alongside Venezuelan men labeled as gang members by officials. The deportation was later described by the administration as an “administrative error.”

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled the deportation unlawful and ordered his return by 11:59 p.m. Monday. The Justice Department asked her to pause the order during their appeal, but she declined. In a strongly worded opinion, Xinis said U.S. officials detained Abrego Garcia without authority, failed to present him to an immigration judge, and then delivered him to a Salvadoran facility known for brutal conditions, including deprivation of food and water, frequent violence, and proximity to known persecutors.

Guards escorted Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom Jennifer Vasquez Sura identified as her husband, through the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador.

Whether the government will meet the Monday deadline remains unclear. Officials claim they can’t return Abrego Garcia because he’s now under Salvadoran custody. The administration has already faced accusations of ignoring court orders in another case involving Venezuelan migrants sent to the same prison.

The Justice Department argues that the court has no jurisdiction to enforce Abrego Garcia’s return and that doing so would interfere with the president’s foreign policy authority. But Xinis rejected that position, criticizing the administration’s stance that once someone is removed, courts lose oversight. “As a practical matter,” she wrote, “the facts say otherwise.”

Abrego Garcia, 29, fled gang violence in El Salvador as a teenager and arrived in the U.S. in 2011. In 2019, he was arrested in Maryland while seeking work and accused of MS-13 affiliation based on a confidential informant. While in custody, he denied gang involvement and successfully requested a deportation block from an immigration judge, who cited fear for his safety if returned. ICE did not appeal the ruling, and he was released.

Despite that, the Trump administration continues to label him a national security threat, again calling him an MS-13 member without offering evidence. In their motion opposing Xinis’ order, DOJ lawyers argued that returning Abrego Garcia would endanger the public and that the judge had failed to prove any urgent harm.

His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, has rejected these claims, and Xinis dismissed them as “just chatter.” She noted that no criminal charges or evidence had been filed to support the allegations. During a hearing Friday, DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni admitted, “we concede he should not have been removed,” and couldn’t explain why he had been held.

Reuveni’s statements were cited in Xinis’ ruling, emphasizing that the government lacked any legal basis to arrest, detain, or deport Abrego Garcia. He was placed on leave after the hearing.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a statement saying all DOJ lawyers are expected to “zealously advocate” for the government, adding that those who fail to do so “will face consequences.” On Fox News Sunday, she compared Reuveni’s courtroom comments to a defense lawyer conceding guilt mid-trial, calling it something that “would never happen in this country.”