A federal judge reaffirmed on Sunday her ruling that President Donald Trump’s administration must return Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the U.S. after mistakenly deporting him to El Salvador.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Saturday appealed in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, to overturn U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ initial ruling on Friday that the government must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.

Justice department officials wrote in their appeal that the decision was “indefensible,” and that the court does not have the authority to make El Salvador release Abrego Garcia.

Sunday’s ruling comes after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador last month due to what officials said was an “administrative error.”

After ICE officers detained Abrego Garcia on March 12, he was sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, which Xinis described as a “​​notorious supermax prison known for widespread human rights violations.” The mega-prison can house up to 40,000 prisoners, according to the Associated Press.

In a memo attached to her decision on Sunday, Xinis wrote that the Trump administration had “no legal grounds whatsoever for [Abrego Garcia’s] arrest, detention or removal.”

“​​Evidence [does not] suggest that Abrego Garcia is being held … at the behest of Salvadoran authorities to answer for crimes in that country,” Xinis wrote. “Rather, his detention appears wholly lawless.”

[Trump administration appeals judge’s order to return wrongfully deported Maryland man]

Abrego Garcia was arrested and turned over to ICE custody in 2019 because of alleged ties to the international gang MS-13. After the arrest, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia protection from deportation to El Salvador as he faced a “clear probability of persecution” if he returned to the country, Xinis wrote in her memo Sunday.

The Trump administration has continued to claim that Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 member, but Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have denied the claims and said the government has failed to share evidence to prove that he is, the Associated Press reported.

According to the Associated Press, the claims that Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 member stem from a confidential informant’s allegations that he belonged to a chapter of the international gang in New York. But Abrego Garcia had never lived there, the news agency reported.

In a news release on Sunday, Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said he and other attorneys are asking the federal courts to ensure the government abides by orders that protect people from deportation.

“The government admits they deported our client illegally, yet they are still fighting tooth and nail to keep him locked away in a prison halfway across the world,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said in the statement. “This is not about law for them; it’s about power.”

Xinis’ original ruling orders that Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S. by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.