The White House has dug in on its refusal to return a man who US officials have acknowledged was wrongly deported last month from Maryland to an El Salvador mega-prison.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on accusations that Salvadoran national Kilmar Ábrego García was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.
Leavitt also accused the 29-year-old of domestic violence, citing records showing his US citizen wife once filed a protective order against him.
A Maryland judge has ordered President Donald Trump's administration to bring Mr Ábrego García back to the US. But El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on a visit to the White House this week that he did not "have the power" to return him.
It comes amid an escalating showdown between the president and the judiciary on immigration as a judge in another case said the administration could be held in contempt of court over deportation flights.
Leavitt told a press briefing on Wednesday: "If he [Mr Ábrego García] ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again.
"He will never live in the United States of America."
She again accused Mr Ábrego García of being a member of the MS-13 gang, citing court findings. But his lawyer and family reject that he was ever in the gang.
