WATCH: White House claims at briefing that deported man with protected legal status was a gang member

The White House is asserting that the man with protected legal status who was mistakenly sent to an El Salvador prison was a member of the MS-13 gang and alleged he’d been involved in human trafficking.

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Officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, acknowledged an “administrative error” in efforts to remove Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the U.S.

“The administration maintains the position that this individual, who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt told reporters at a Tuesday briefing.

Leavitt claimed “credible intelligence” showed he was involved in human trafficking and that he was a leader of the notorious MS-13 gang.

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“Foreign terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of America anymore,” Leavitt said.

In a complaint, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers disputed the government’s claims.

“Although he has been accused of general ‘gang affiliation,’ the U.S. government has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation,” the complaint stated.