Controversy has grown concerning Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison.

However, Attorney General Pam Bondi was quick to defend his arrest during an appearance on Fox News this past weekend. 

Bondi points out how some gang members have jobs

Bondi told "Fox News Sunday" that Garcia's "lawyers have argued he should be here because he was studying to be an electrician… let me give you a comparison."

She then referenced Jose Ezequiel Gamez-Maravilla, an alleged foreign gang member and murderer who operated a drywall business in Florida.

"So, the argument that, because these people are living among us, these illegal aliens from El Salvador, means they're not part of a gang… that's how they're hiding. That's how they're succeeding," she declared.

"We have to rely on what ICE says. We have to rely on what Homeland Security says," the attorney general went on to assert.

Attorney general: "The best thing to do is to get these people out of our country"

"They're our clients, and I firmly believe in the work they are doing, and we're going to make America safe again. That was President Trump's directive to all of us," Bondi stressed.

"The best thing to do is to get these people out of our country, and when that first plane left and landed in El Salvador, there were 261 reasons why Americans were safer," she continued.

"We have to look out for the safety of our country, first and foremost, and that is Donald Trump's directive, and we're gonna continue to do that," the Trump administration official added.

Meanwhile, Fox News reported on Friday that a federal judge has ordered the White House to make arrangements for Garcia's return.

DHS official says Garcia "was involved in trafficking"

Yet although U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis gave a Monday deadline for Garcia to be returned, the Trump administration indicated that it will appeal his ruling.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News, "The American people should know who this individual is."

"He's not some American father as the mainstream media will make you believe, he's actually a member of MS-13, and was involved in trafficking," she was quoted as saying.

"It's unbelievable the framing of this. Whether this man is in El Salvador or in a U.S. detention center, he should be locked up," McLaughlin maintained.