ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Monday that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month was not accidental.

"I don't accept the term 'error' in Abrego Garcia," Homan said during a White House press briefing. "There was an oversight, there was a withholding order. But the facts surrounding the withholding order had changed. He is now a terrorist, and the gang he was fearing, from being removed from El Salvador, no longer exists."

Abrego Garcia, 29, was expelled to his native country on March 15 during a Department of Justice (DOJ) roundup targeting hundreds of alleged Salvadoran and Venezuelan gang members in the US.

His deportation was carried out without a court hearing and despite a previous court order in a separate case that barred his removal from the country.

Although the Trump administration acknowledged it had made an error, it has maintained that the DOJ has no jurisdiction to return Abrego Garcia, as he is now in the custody of a foreign government.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that argument and upheld the order requiring the Trump administration to assist in facilitating his return.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he had no intention of sending Abrego Garcia back to the US, prompting US Senator Chris Van Hollen to travel to El Salvador. After meeting Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen described him as traumatized and insisted that any accusations against him should be addressed in court, not “over social media.”

Trump later criticized Van Hollen for meeting with Garcia.

Separately, a federal judge ordered Trump administration officials to be questioned under oath as part of a two-week “expedited discovery” process to determine whether the government is doing enough to comply with the court’s order to bring back Abrego Garcia.