Salvadoran president says he won't return man deported by mistake

Faith E. Pinho and David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times on Apr 14, 2025

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WASHINGTON — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he would not return to the United States a man who was wrongly deported by the Trump administration, despite a Supreme Court ruling that said the United States should take steps to facilitate his return.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, had lived in the U.S. for 14 years before the Trump administration deported him — an act White House officials called an “administrative error.” Although U.S. government officials acknowledge he was wrongly deported, they now contend that forcing his return would interfere with El Salvador’s sovereignty.

“This is up to El Salvador to return him,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday at the White House, where President Donald Trump and Bukele were meeting with other officials.

Asked if he would return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., Bukele responded, “Of course I’m not going to do it.”

Without presenting any evidence, White House officials repeated claims that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, and that he presented a threat if returned to the United States. Abrego Garcia has no criminal record.

He did have a withholding order, which prevented him from being deported to El Salvador, because of concerns he would be harmed by local gangs there. In its court order, the Supreme Court called his deportation “illegal.”

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in its order.

However, the Supreme Court questioned a lower court’s language that the U.S. government “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return, and the ambiguity of the term “effectuate.”

“The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,” the court ruling said. “For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

Trump administration officials seized on the court’s ruling. “If (El Salvador) wanted to return him, we would facilitate it — meaning, provide a plane,” Bondi said.

But Bukele was unequivocal. “How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? What do I do? Of course, I’m not going to do it,” he said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asked Bukele for a meeting during his trip to Washington. Van Hollen said he had been in touch with Abrego Garcia’s wife, mother and brother, who are concerned about his well-being in the Salvadoran prison.

“If Kilmar is not home by midweek — I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland, was deported on March 15 to the Terrorism Confinement Center, Salvador’s huge maximum-security prison.