El Salvador Won’t Return Wrongly Deported Maryland Man

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday he would not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Maryland man illegally deported to El Salvador — to the United States, as Trump administration officials vehemently argued they were in no position to force the decision.

“How can I return him to the United States? Am I going to smuggle him? Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said while sitting beside President Donald Trump. “The question is preposterous.”

The Supreme Court last week said the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, while leaving in place much of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ order that specifically required his “return” to the country.

The president deferred to his top administration officials Monday, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, senior adviser Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to field questions about the administration’s intentions, in what appeared to be an orchestrated effort to deliver a forceful, consistent response. Bondi, sitting near Trump, said it is up to El Salvador to decide if they want to return him.

“That’s not up to us,” she said, pointing to the Supreme Court ruling. “If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.”

Rubio also chimed in, suggesting that the ruling affirmed the power of the executive: “The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court,” he said. “And no court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States.”

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But critics and legal experts have argued that the case sets a dangerous precedent of allowing the executive branch the expansive and chilling power to imprison individuals in different countries without due process — especially as Trump continues to float sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.

“Home-growns are next. The home-growns,” Trump told Bukele. “You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”

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Miller, a top Trump adviser on immigration and other issues, told reporters the U.S. shouldn’t interfere with how El Salvador handles its citizens.

“He’s a citizen of El Salvador, so it’s very arrogant, even for the American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens,” Miller said.

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