The deportation of a Salvadoran immigrant has sparked a clash between Democrats and Republicans over the White House’s policies on illegal immigration.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to his home country last month and placed in a maximum-security prison, in spite of a 2019 ruling.

The deportation occurred at a time when Mr Trump had begun the mass deportation of individuals living illegally in the U.S.

The ruling was from an immigration judge that allowed him to stay in the U.S.

Lawyers for the U.S. government have acknowledged that his deportation was an administrative error, and the Supreme Court has upheld a judge’s ruling that required the U.S. government to facilitate his release from prison.

Court documents found that Mr Garcia admitted that he entered the U.S. illegally in 2012, local media reported.

However, the administration later adopted a different tone by depicting Mr Garcia as a member of the MS-13 gang and a citizen of El Salvador.

The allegations of his connection to MS-13 stem from his arrest in 2019, according to a CBS report.

Mr Garcia, a father of three who works in construction, denied the allegation, saying he had not been convicted of any crimes in the U.S.

Court documents show that he was arrested outside a Home Depot with three other men, at least two of whom had suspected gang ties.

The deportation has become a legal flashpoint and highlights the bitter partisan divide in Washington.

According to Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, immigration is a hot-button issue in the U.S. with lots of divisions regarding how to handle those who came into the country illegally.

Chris Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, where Mr Garcia was living before his deportation, travelled to El Salvador last week and met with Mr Garcia in prison.

However, Mr Trump last Friday had blasted Mr Hollen, writing on social media that the senator ”looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention.’’

On Monday, four House Democrats travelled to Salvador to push for Mr Garcia’s release and raise awareness for what they call a ”constitutional crisis.’’

Meanwhile protests erupted in front of the White House by the weekend, with demonstrators holding a variety of handmade signs, including ”Stop illegal deportations!”, ”The constitutional crisis is here!” and others.

Mrs Wood, who drove more than three hours from Bradford County, Pennsylvania, to join the protest, told Xinhua that the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants lacked due process.

She urged that everyone should have the opportunity to defend themselves in court.

”The administration claimed that those being deported are criminals, yet some were arrested simply for having tattoos.

”They are picking on people of colour. It is totally racist. It’s white supremacy all the way,” she said.

Critics have accused the Trump administration of flouting the authority of the courts.

Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Centre for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said that the administration’s position since it came into office is that whenever it is ruled against, this will be reversed by the Supreme Court anyway.

”It need not follow what the lower court said. With the Garcia case, the administration went to the Supreme Court, did not get what they wanted, and now are stonewalling and lying about their non-compliance.

”So, this is the test case regarding the administration’s actual, not just stated, theory of presidential power. They do not intend to be constrained by the Supreme Court,’’ he said.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, defended the administration’s approach on Monday.

”I am doing what I was elected to do, remove criminals from our country, but the courts don’t seem to want me to do that.

”We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so will take, without exaggeration, 200 years,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

(Xinhua/NAN)