An 'administrative error' sent a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison

Flimsy Evidence and Due Process

• Several commenters focus on how weak the “gang ties” evidence was (clothing and a confidential informant naming a clique in a city he’d never lived in).
• This is framed as “vibes-based justice” and an example of bureaucrats following checklists and buggy software instead of meaningful judgment.
• Some connect it to a broader trend toward automated or AI‑assisted immigration enforcement, citing contemporary visa/AI examples.

What the Courts Actually Decided

• Key clarification: an immigration judge (and then the Board of Immigration Appeals) found him deportable for MS‑13 ties and denied asylum.
• However, that same judge granted protection from being deported to El Salvador specifically; ICE later admitted deporting him there anyway due to an “administrative error.”
• There is debate over whether this was a violation of a “court order” or merely an internal executive‑branch mix‑up, since immigration judges are DOJ employees, not Article III judges.

Responsibility of the U.S. vs. El Salvador

• One side argues the U.S. is now “powerless” because he’s an El Salvadoran citizen in Salvadoran custody and must use his own country’s legal system.
• Others counter that the U.S. is paying for these imprisonments, invoked its own processes to send him there despite protections, and therefore bears ongoing responsibility.
• Some liken this to outsourcing cruel punishment in possible violation of the Eighth Amendment and anti‑torture obligations.

Rights of Non‑Citizens and Nature of Deportation

• Hard split:
  • One camp argues deportation is akin to civil trespass removal; non‑citizens have no inherent right to remain and are not owed jury trials.
  • The other insists that such life‑altering sanctions (especially when they effectively mean indefinite brutal imprisonment) should require full criminal‑style due process, even for non‑citizens.

Broader Patterns: ICE, CECOT, Authoritarian Drift

• Commenters connect this case to ICE’s history of wrongful detention of U.S. citizens and to mass transfers to El Salvador’s CECOT “mega‑prison,” described as de facto slavery/trafficking.
• Multiple references to Guantánamo, dystopian films, and dictionary definitions of fascism frame this as part of a larger authoritarian turn, not an isolated error.

Meta: HN, Politics, and Flagging

• Large subthread debates whether such stories belong on HN.
• One side: political threads become low‑signal tribal fights and violate guidelines against routine politics/crime news; thus they flag them.
• The other: immigration policy directly affects many HN readers (especially immigrants on visas), and suppressing these discussions feels like censorship or denial amid a “five‑alarm fire” for democracy.
• Mechanics and perceived flaws of the flag/vouch system are dissected; some call for reform rather than burying high‑interest but contentious topics.