The Trump administration is asking an appeals court to suspend a judge's order for the government to broker the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported from the U.S. to an El Salvador prison.

A judge on Friday ordered the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported in error to El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis rejected the Trump administration’s entreaty to back off her Friday order, which requires the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia by Monday night. The Justice Department said the court had no power to order the decision and was intruding on President Donald Trump’s exclusive power to direct foreign policy.

DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni made multiple critical comments of his agency in court during a hearing over the mistaken deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador.

President Donald Trump has invoked a rarely used 1798 law that gives a president immense powers to arrest and deport noncitizens in a time of war

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was taken to El Salvador on March 15 because of what the Trump administration has called an "administrative error."

FILE PHOTO: Esmeralda Morillo, aunt of Venezuelan singer Arturo Suarez, 33, whom the U.S. alleged was a member of the Tren de Aragua gang and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, holds a sign of her nephew during a protest, in Caracas, Venezuela March 24, 2025. REUTERS/Gaby Oraa/File Photo

A federal judge said officials had acted without “legal basis” last month when they arrested the migrant, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, and put him on a plane to a notorious Salvadoran prison.

The man’s attorney said the government has done nothing to get his client back, even after admitting its errors.