WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump says he could help return an El Salvadoran man mistakenly deported from Maryland but would not despite court-ordered action, in contrast to his administration’s arguments that only El Salvador can act.
Asked about his ability to call up El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in an effort to follow the U.S. Supreme Court order to “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return, Trump told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday: “I could.”
“I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this,” Trump said. “I follow the law,” he added.
The nation’s top court issued its order April 10. The Trump administration has argued since then that only El Salvador’s government can act because Abrego Garcia is in a Salvadoran prison and that Washington does not need to help extract him.
Legal experts and Democrats say the case illustrates the risks to everyone’s due process and constitutional rights, and raises questions about Trump and his administration’s intentions to defy the courts, a third co-equal branch of government.
The U.S. District Court judge in Maryland has stayed discovery in the case until Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The White House has repeated the unproven accusation that Abrego Garcia is part of criminal gang MS-13, which the administration has designated a foreign terrorist group. His lawyers deny any gang affiliation, saying he left El Salvador at age 16 to escape such violence and received a protective order in 2019 to continue living in the United States.
Trump double-downed on the accusation with ABC and defended his hard-line immigration tactics, saying: “I was elected to take care of a problem.”
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland with a work permit, was detained by U.S. immigration officers in March and questioned about alleged gang ties before being deported on one of three deportation flights to El Salvador with Venezuelan migrants.
The Trump administration, in a court filing after Abrego Garcia and his family challenged the deportation in court, acknowledged he was deported in error.
The government lawyer who admitted the mistake “should not have said that,” Trump told ABC.
The Republican president has touted his immigration crackdown as he marked his 100th day in office this week. While immigration has been Trump’s strongest area of support, a Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found respondents split on his handling of the issue.
A separate Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll last week found more Americans say Abrego Garcia should be returned.
U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, in a letter to Trump on Tuesday said comments by El Salvador’s vice president this month prove El Salvador has no legal basis to hold him prisoner.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Editing by Franklin Paul)
