The Trump administration has once again confirmed that the deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who faces allegations of gang involvement, to El Salvador was the result of “an administrative error,” following several changes in stance regarding the legality of his deportation without proper legal proceedings.

This recent acknowledgment of the “mistake” by the government was revealed in a Sunday filing submitted by the Department of Justice. The document requested that Abrego Garcia’s civil case be dismissed from a federal court in Maryland.

Since Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. last month, federal prosecutors have made several attempts to convince U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to dismiss his civil case, arguing that the plaintiffs have already “received the relief they sought in their complaint,” making the claims moot. Notably, Abrego Garcia was released from the notorious CECOT prison — where he claims he and his fellow inmates were brutally tortured — after a federal grand jury had indicted him on charges of unlawfully transporting migrants and conspiracy.

In Sunday’s filing, the DOJ asserted that Abrego Garcia’s civil case was moot and the legal doctrine of “voluntary cessation” did not apply. Voluntary cessation is an exception to mootness that applies when a defendant ceases the alleged wrongful conduct at the heart of the controversy, but could later resume that same activity.

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“The voluntary cessation exception does not apply in situations where the Government has corrected its own mistake,” the DOJ’s nine-page filing states. “The removal of Abrego Garcia to El Salvador without first terminating his withholding of removal to El Salvador was not a policy that the Government is conveniently stopping because of the litigation but can restart anytime. It was a one-off mistake that the Government conceded was an administrative error; that the Court ordered the Government to remedy; and that the Government has now remedied. Presuming that the Government would remove Abrego Garcia to El Salvador again without first terminating the grant of withholding of removal after this case is dismissed, defies logic. The voluntary cessation exception to mootness does not apply.”

The government reiterates this point again in the filing, calling the removal of Abrego Garcia “an isolated mistake” and asserting that there “is no pattern or practice of removing individuals granted withholding of removal to their home country.”

By conceding that the deportation was a gaffe, the DOJ seemingly contradicted statements made by high-ranking Trump administration officials, particularly Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff. Miller in April unambiguously said that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was not an error.

“He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador,” Miller said in an interview with Fox News. “This was the right person sent to the right place.”

Also in April, the Justice Department suspended and then fired a career prosecutor with more than a decade of experience after he admitted in court that Abrego Garcia was deported “in error.”

“The facts are conceded,” Erez Reuveni, the then-acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation told Xinis during a hearing. “Mr. Abrego Garcia should not have been removed. He should not have been sent to El Salvador.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Reuveni failed to “vigorously argue” on behalf of his client.

“I firmly said on Day 1, I issued a memo that you are to vigorously advocate on behalf of the United States,” Bondi said in a statement addressing Reuveni’s suspension. “Our client in this matter was Homeland Security — is Homeland Security. He did not argue. He shouldn’t have taken the case. He shouldn’t have argued it, if that’s what he was going to do. He’s on administrative leave now.”

Notably, a federal appeals court in late June ordered the administration to facilitate the return of a second migrant deported to El Salvador in violation of a standing court order.

Attorneys for Abrego Garcia last week filed an amended complaint in his civil case claiming his time in CECOT was filled with “severe beatings,” “psychological torture,” and dehumanizing conditions.

A hearing before Xinis is scheduled to take place Monday.