AP PHOTOS: A look at the huge prison in El Salvador linked to US deportations

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TECOLUCA, El Salvador (AP) — President Donald Trump’ s administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a Maryland man with protected legal status to a notorious El Salvador prison, but is arguing against returning him to the United States because of his alleged gang ties and the U.S. government’s lack of power over the Central American nation.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s maximum-security gang prison just outside of San Salvador. Garcia is one of them.

This photo gallery curated by AP photo editors highlights a recent tour of the prison by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.