El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele says he won’t return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, after Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters it’s “up to El Salvador” whether the man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison returns to the U.S.
Bukele and Bondi made the comments in the Oval Office alongside President Trump, as the two world leaders met. Over the weekend, the Justice Department said in court filings that they’re willing to take “all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles” to facilitate his return.
“How can I return him to the United States?” Bukele asked the press. “I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
Bukele referred to Abrego Garcia as a “terrorist,” and said “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Bondi, speaking before Bukele, said it’s “up to El Salvador if they want to return him.” Bondi said that “first and foremost, he was illegally in our country.”
“That’s not up to us,” Bondi said. “The Supreme Court ruled, President, that if El Salvador wants to return him … we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.”
But the Supreme Court offered no qualifier of whether El Salvador wants to return Abrego Garcia. The court ruled that a lower court order properly required the government to “facilitate” his release from El Salvador’s custody. The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must facilitate the release of the man, who lives in Maryland, from custody, but ordered additional proceedings before a federal district court.
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U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the Justice Department to provide daily updates on their efforts to return Abrego Garcia. In Monday’s filing, the Justice Department noted Bukele’s Oval Office comments. The filing also said that “DHS does not have the authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers insist he has no affiliation with MS-13, and has never been charged or convicted of any criminal offenses in the U.S. or El Salvador. The Trump administration acknowledged that his deportation to the high-security prison in El Salvador known as CECOT was an “administrative error.”
“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” Michael G. Kozak, a senior State Department official, said in a Friday court filing. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
In a statement after the meeting, Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said “the Trump and Bukele administrations continue to play political games with his life.”
The Trump administration sent deportation flights with scores of foreign nationals that they describe as members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. An analysis by “60 Minutes” last week showed that 75% of the Venezuelans sent to CECOT in El Salvador had no criminal records. At least 22% of the men on the list have criminal records here in the United States or abroad. The vast majority are for non-violent offenses like theft, shoplifting and trespassing. About a dozen are accused of murder, rape, assault and kidnapping. It was unclear if any criminal record existed for the other 3%.
Among those deported was Abrego Garcia, who lives in Maryland with his wife and children. He is a native of El Salvador, and his wife is a U.S. citizen.
Mr. Trump also expressed openness to sending U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to prisons in El Salvador, saying his administration is studying the laws right now to see if that’s possible. Mr. Trump said the U.S. can cooperate with Bukele to rehabilitate criminals for “less money.”
“If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” he said. “We’re studying the laws right now, Pam [Bondi] is studying. If we can do that, that’s good.”
Legal scholars say sending U.S. citizens to prisons abroad brings up serious constitutional concerns. In a 1936 case, Valentine v. United States, the Supreme Court determined a president cannot extradite a U.S. citizen except by an act of Congress.
Bukele, a tough-on-crime leader, said it was an “honor to be here” and “we’re very eager to help” with stopping crime and terrorism. Bukele told Mr. Trump what he’s doing with the border is “remarkable,” praising the plunge in crossings at the U.S. southern border. Under Bukele’s tenure, El Salvador has seen a dramatic decrease in its crime rate.
In announcing his meeting with Bukele, Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post, that their nations “are working closely together to eradicate terrorist organizations, and build a future of Prosperity.”
“President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” Mr. Trump wrote. “These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government. They will never threaten or menace our Citizens again!”
Melissa Quinn
contributed to this report.
