On 12 March, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driving home with his young son in Maryland when he was stopped by agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Agents took Mr Garcia into custody, then shuttled him to detention facilities in Louisiana and Texas.
According to a federal judge, after three days, “without any notice, legal process, or hearing”, Mr Garcia found himself back in his native El Salvador at an infamous prison known for housing gang members.
The government said he was deported due to an “administrative error”.
But despite that, Mr Garcia remains incarcerated in El Salvador as lawyers debate the unusual intricacies of the case.
A Maryland court ordered Mr Garcia be returned to the US, but Trump officials argued that they cannot compel El Salvador to return Mr Garcia. The administration also argued that the judge ordering his return lacked the authority to do so.
On Monday, the Supreme Court put a temporary hold on lower court orders while they consider the matter.
Immigration experts say that as US President Donald Trump takes a hardline approach on illegal immigration, this case has the potential to upend due process for immigrants.
If the US Supreme Court were to accept [the Trump administration’s] position, it would completely eviscerate any rule of law in the immigration process, Maureen Sweeney, director of the University of Maryland’s Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice, told the BBC.
Because they could pick up anybody, at any time, and send them anywhere with no repercussions whatsoever.
US District Judge Paula Xinis wrote in a filing Sunday that ICE officials did not follow procedures in the Immigration and Nationality Act when they deported Mr Garcia to El Salvador.
She ruled the US must bring him back before midnight on Monday. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, writing that the US has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street.
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