(NewsNation) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Monday that he would not return the Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to the Central American nation despite a U.S. Supreme Court order that the Trump administration should facilitate his return.
“How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said during a meeting with President Donald Trump when he was asked about returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia from a notorious Salvadoran prison where he’s been held since March.
“The question is preposterous. We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists,” Bukele added.
Trump referred questions about Abrego Garcia to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said he was illegally in the U.S. and that courts have ruled that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said.
She called the issue “international matters” and “foreign affairs” and said the U.S. would facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return if El Salvador wanted to send him back by providing an airplane.
As part of U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis’ order for reports on Abrego Garcia’s status, the State Department wrote in a filing, “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
However, in a new court filing, the DOJ stated the courts cannot tell the Trump administration how to conduct foreign policy, arguing that because Abrego Garcia is in Salvadoran custody, the courts do not have the authority to compel the U.S. to facilitate his release.
The Trump administration has admitted a clerical error caused Abrego Garcia to be sent to El Salvador.
In a complaint, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have disputed the government’s claims that he was in a gang. His lawyers have also suggested the U.S. send planes and personnel to El Salvador to bring him home.
NewsNation’s Tom Dempsey and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
