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 meet. 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. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United Sates? 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 Maryland man from custody in El Salvador, but ordered additional proceedings before a federal district court.
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 was an “administrative error.”
Evan Vucci / AP 
“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.”
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. Among them was Abrego Garcia, who lives in Maryland with his wife and children.
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.
