Donald Trump's hardline immigrant policy faced fresh scrutiny Tuesday after officials admitted an "administrative error" in the hurried deportation process had sent a man to a notorious El Salvador prison.

The president's administration is pursuing a sweeping drive against migrants -- a key campaign promise -- touting the move as a crackdown on gang members and other violent criminals.

But mounting claims that a number of individuals have flimsy or no connection to organized crime has prompted anger among rights groups, Democrats and even some Trump allies, including the influential podcaster Joe Rogan.

A court filing Monday said a Salvadoran man was living in the United States under protected legal status until he was flown to El Salvador with hundreds of other alleged gang members earlier this month.

Abrego Garcia was accused of being a gang member in 2019 but not convicted of any crime, and a judge ordered he should not be deported because he could be harmed in El Salvador.

In Monday's court filing, government lawyers admitted he had been deported in March in an "administrative error," adding that US courts did not now have jurisdiction to secure his release.

A separate reported case of a gay barber being deported has attracted US media attention, and attorneys for several deportees say their clients were targeted only because of their tattoos.

Rogan said Saturday it was "horrific" that innocent people could be swept up in the push to deport gang members.

"You got to get scared that people who are not criminals are getting lassoed up and deported and sent to El Salvador prisons," he said.

"Let's get the gang members out. Everybody agrees. But let's not (see) innocent gay hairdressers get lumped up with the gangs."

Vice President JD Vance on social media claimed that Garcia was a member of violent Salvadoran criminal gang MS-13.

"The media has determined the real victims are the gang members we're trying to get out of the country," he said.