El Salvador’s president claims he can’t return Abrego Garcia to US

• The president of El Salvador said during a visit to the White House on Monday that he lacks the power to bring a wrongly deported Maryland man back to the United States. His claim comes as a U.S. federal judge has issued an order that he be returned home by the Trump administration, an order affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported last month and has since been in a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
• The Trump administration argues that he is a gang member, but his family says has no criminal ties and is an “excellent father.”

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In his Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday, April 14, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele called the idea that his nation could return a Maryland man mistakenly deported by the Trump administration through an “administrative error” back to the United States “preposterous.”

Bukele labeled Kilmar Abrego Garcia a “terrorist” and said he had no authority to return him to the United States.

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What did US Attorney General Pam Bondi say?

Trump also directed questions about Abrego Garcia to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“First and foremost, he was illegally in our country. He had been illegally in our country,” Bondi said. “And in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and appellate immigration court, ruled that he was a member of MS-13 and he was illegally in our country.”

Bondi also argued the Trump administration cannot order Abrego Garcia home.

She stated, “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”

The attorney general went on to call the incident an “international” and “foreign affairs” matter but said the United States would facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return by providing a plane if El Salvador decides to release him.

How does it fit into the bigger picture?

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return last week, a ruling that was soon affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a statement in reference to the affirmation.

The statement read, “The government’s argument moreover implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.”

How are immigration advocates responding?

Immigration advocacy group CASA responded to the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia.

CASA said they are “outraged” by the “unlawful deportation.” The group described him as “an excellent father” of three and argued the defiance of the court order by the Trump administration puts his life at risk.

The Trump administration recently reported that Abrego Garcia is alive and detained in El Salvador.

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What are Trump and Rubio saying?

The new developments in the case come as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday, April 13, that another 10 people, who he says are gang members, were sent to El Salvador in a social media post.

Trump also praised Bukele for taking “enemy aliens” off of the hands of the United States and told him on Monday that he hopes he builds more prisons in El Salvador to help the U.S. deport more immigrants to the country.