US President Donald Trump's showdown with the judicial system came into the spotlight Tuesday as a judge grilled his administration over its failure to return a migrant wrongly deported to El Salvador.

The Trump administration previously admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to an "administrative error."

A judge has ordered Trump to "facilitate" his return, an order upheld by the Supreme Court, but his government has yet to request El Salvador return Abrego Garcia.

Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia is "an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador," while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that he was "engaged in human trafficking."

But Abrego Garcia's family has continued to proclaim his innocence, and Judge Paula Xinis — before whom the Tuesday hearing was held — has said she had seen no evidence Abrego Garcia was a gang member.

During the high-stakes hearing — widely seen as a test of the judiciary's ability to tame Trump's White House — Xinis slammed the administration for sharing "nothing" on its plans for Abrego Garcia's return. 

"There's so much daylight between what you're actually saying and where this case is," Xinis said, adding she would set in motion a process to discover if officials acted against court orders.

If so, it would mark a tipping point for the Trump administration, which has for months flirted with open defiance of the judiciary following court setbacks to its right-wing agenda. 

Dozens of protestors carrying signs reading "Defend democracy" and "Bring Abrego Garcia home" gathered outside the courthouse in Maryland on Tuesday.

They were joined by Abreago Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who urged Trump and his ally, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, to "stop playing political games with my husband."

Hoping to heap political pressure on Trump, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen said he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to check on Abrego Garcia's condition and discuss his return.

"He shouldn't have to spend another second away from his family," Van Hollen, a Democrat, said on X.

'Alive and secure'

Trump and his administration have repeatedly clashed with the courts since he returned to office in January, criticizing rulings that curb the president's policies and power and attacking judges who issued them.

"No District Court Judge, or any Judge, can assume the duties of the President of the United States. Only Crime and Chaos would result," Trump said on Truth Social last month.

Government attorneys last week rejected Xinis's order to provide an update on Abrego Garcia's status by Friday, saying that "foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines."

The Trump administration has since partially complied with the judge's directives, providing a statement from a State Department official saying that Abrego Garcia is "alive and secure" in the Salvadoran prison.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a court filing Tuesday that it would take Abrego Garcia into custody and deport him again if he returned to the United States.

But El Salvador's Bukele on Monday, sitting next to Trump at the White House, rejected calls to repatriate Abrego Garcia, saying, "I don't have the power to return him to the United States."

The case represents the only time the administration has acknowledged wrongly deporting anyone, though the Justice Department subsequently fired the lawyer who made that concession, saying he had failed to vigorously defend the government position.