Salvadoran President Says He Won't Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia
And while U.S. officials admit the deportation was a mistake, they say they're not obliged to bring him back—despite the Supreme Court's ruling.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said Monday that he will not return a Salvadoran man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador from the United States, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order instructing the U.S. government to facilitate the man's return.
"How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?" Bukele said during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House. "Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous."
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was among the roughly 200 individuals deported to El Salvador in March as part of a deal in which Bukele agreed to detain alleged gang members in exchange for a hefty sum. But Abrego Garcia is not a gang member, his lawyer says; he lived in the U.S. for more than 14 years, is married to a U.S. citizen, and is the father of three children. He has no criminal convictions in either the U.S. or El Salvador.
The Trump administration claimed he was a gang member, citing a 2019 finding by an immigration judge that he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang. But U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found that "the 'evidence' against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13's 'Western' clique in New York—a place he has never lived." The court granted him protection from removal to El Salvador, citing credible fear of persecution by gangs there. Nevertheless, he was arrested on March 12 by immigration authorities in Maryland and deported shortly after.
In an April 4 ruling, Xinis ordered the U.S. government to "facilitate and effectuate the return" of Abrego Garcia by April 7. Last week, the Supreme Court upheld that order, labeling the deportation "illegal" and requiring daily updates on efforts to return him.
Justice Department officials have acknowledged Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported due to an administrative error. Yet the Trump administration said Sunday that it is not required to negotiate with El Salvador for his return and argued that Abrego Garcia is "no longer eligible" for the protection that should have initially prevented his removal to El Salvador.
In the Oval Office meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, saying that the Trump administration is not bound to follow the court's order. "No court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States," Rubio said.
"I don't understand what the confusion is," Rubio added. "This individual is a citizen of El Salvador. He was illegally in the United States and was returned to his country. That's where you deport people back to their country of origin."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the U.S. could provide a plane to facilitate his return, but emphasized that "that's up for El Salvador if they want to return him. That's not up to us."
Bukele, however, suggested that he wouldn't comply with such a request if he were asked. "We're not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country," he said. "We just turned the murder capital of the world into the safest country in the Western Hemisphere and you want us to go back into releasing criminals so we can go back to being the murder capital of the world? That's not going to happen."
Even if Abrego Garcia were returned, Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff for policy, said he would simply be deported again. "No version of this, legally, ends up with him ever living here," Miller said.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D–Md.) has requested a meeting with Bukele while he is in the United States to discuss the matter. "Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported," he said. "The courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now."
Abrego Garcia is currently being held at El Salvador's 40,000-person mega prison, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a facility known for its human rights violations. His lawyers have warned that Abrego Garcia faces a serious risk of torture or death.
During the White House meeting, Trump thanked Bukele for cooperating with the administration's mass deportation efforts. "You are helping us out, and we appreciate it," Trump said, adding that the U.S. would like El Salvador to accept as many deportees "as possible."