Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele says he won’t return a man mistakenly deported by the U.S. to El Salvador after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father, was deported to El Salvador in March and locked in the country’s mega-prison. The Trump administration later admitted it was “an administrative error.” Still, Bukele says he won’t return him.
“How can I return him to the United States? Did I smuggle him into the United States?” Bukele said, when asked if he would send Abrego Garcia back.
The U.S. claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang — something his lawyers strongly deny. His family says he was targeted without evidence and deported without due process.
Despite acknowledging the mistake, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday that it’s now in El Salvador’s hands.
“Additional paperwork had needed to be done. That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said at the White House. “The Supreme Court ruled that if El Salvador wants to return him… we would facilitate it: meaning, return a plane.”
When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Bondi directly, “So will you return him?” Bondi didn’t answer.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller took a harder stance, saying it was “very arrogant” for U.S. media to “tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.” He emphasized that Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen.
When asked again if he has the power to release Abrego Garcia from prison, Bukele said yes — but added that he won’t.
“You want us to go back to releasing criminals so we can go back to being the murder capital of the world? That’s not going to happen,” he said. “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.”
Trump, sitting nearby, remained silent when asked by Collins whether he still stood by his earlier statement that he would follow the Supreme Court’s guidance and help facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
For now, Abrego Garcia remains locked up in El Salvador, caught in a political crossfire — and labeled a terrorist without a trial.
