El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said on Monday he had no intention of returning a man mistakenly deported by the U.S., likening it to smuggling a terrorist into the country, during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
During the Oval Office meeting, multiple members of the Trump administration said they were not required to bring back Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia, despite an order, backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, that they must facilitate the Maryland resident’s return.
Don’t Have ‘Power’
El Salvador’s President, for his part, said he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said, echoing the Trump administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Trump, who came into office in January promising to reform U.S. immigration policy, has found a kindred spirit for that effort in Bukele. The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
Trump said he would send as many people living in the U.S. illegally to El Salvador as possible and help Bukele to build new prisons.
‘Sick People’
The U.S. president called reporters asking whether the administration would follow the order to return Abrego Garcia’s “sick people.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang and that the court order only required the U.S. to help Abrego Garcia return if El Salvador agreed to send him back.
“The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President of the United States, not by a court,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also present in the Oval Office.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have denied the allegation that he is a gang member, saying the U.S. has presented no credible evidence substantiating its claim.
Last week, a U.S. appeals court refused to pause a lower judge’s order directing the U.S. to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
“If the government wanted to prove to the district court that Abrego Garcia was a ‘prominent’ member of MS-13, it has had ample opportunity to do so but has not — nor has it even bothered to try,” the appeals court said in its order.
Mega-Prison
The migrants El Salvador accepts from the U.S. are housed in a high-security mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center. Critics say the prison engages in human rights abuses and that Bukele’s crackdown on gangs has swept up many innocent people without due process.
Bukele told Trump he is accused of imprisoning thousands of people. “I like to say that we actually liberated millions,” he said.
The U.S. president reacted gleefully to Bukele’s comment. “Do you think I can use that?” Trump asked, and criticized his Democratic opponents over their handling of the U.S. border.
“It’s a sin what they did, and you are helping us out. We appreciate it,” Trump said.
The State Department last week lifted its advisory for American travellers to El Salvador to level one, the safest level, crediting the Central American country’s president for reducing gang activity and violent crime.
The U.S. on Saturday deported 10 more people it alleges are gang members to El Salvador.
Lawyers and relatives of the migrants held in El Salvador say they are not gang members and had no opportunity to contest the U.S. government’s assertion that they were. The Trump administration says it vetted migrants to ensure they belonged to gangs including Tren de Aragua and MS-13, which it labels terrorist organizations.
Last month, after a judge said flights carrying migrants processed under the Alien Enemies Act should return to the U.S., Bukele wrote “Oopsie… Too late” on social media alongside footage showing men being hustled off a plane in the dark of night.
‘Bring Kilmar Home’
The case of Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador’s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center on March 15 despite an order protecting him from deportation, has drawn particular attention.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an order from Judge Paula Xinis directing the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” his return but said the term “effectuate” was unclear and might exceed her authority.
Trump told reporters on Friday that his administration would bring the man back if the Supreme Court directed it to do so.
However, in a court filing on Sunday, the administration said it was not obligated to help Abrego Garcia get out of prison in El Salvador.
An immigration judge had previously granted Abrego Garcia protection from being deported to El Salvador, finding that he could face gang violence there, and he held a permit to work in the United States.
Demonstrators, including Abrego Garcia’s wife, a U.S. citizen, gathered outside the White House ahead of Trump’s meeting with Bukele.
“President Trump, bring Kilmar home now!” a speaker addressing the group outside the White House said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
