[Source: Reuters]

A U.S. judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador back to the United States within three days, the latest legal setback for the administration’s hardline deportation policies.

The U.S. has already acknowledged Kilmar Abrego Garcia – a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S legally with a work permit – was deported in error as part of three planeloads of migrants flown out last month over alleged ties to violent gangs.

But the administration has argued it has no legal authority to bring him back to the country, though Abrego Garcia’s lawyers dispute that.

“They put him there, they can bring him back,” Andrew Rossman, lawyer at prominent law firm Quinn Emanuel that joined Abrego Garcia’s legal team on Friday, said in a statement.

After questioning government lawyers, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled at a Greenbelt, Maryland, court hearing that the government must take steps to bring him back to the United States by April 7.

The Justice Department will appeal the order to the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a court filing after the hearing.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Xinis should contact President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador “because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador.”

At the hearing, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg told the judge that there was no legal basis for the deportation.

“They admit they had no legal authorization to remove him to El Salvador,” Moshenberg said. “The public interest lies in the government following the law.”Erez Reuveni, a lawyer for the government, conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been removed.

“That is not in dispute,” Reuveni said.

Stream the best of Fiji on VITI+. Anytime. Anywhere.