El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on Monday during a meeting with President Donald Trump that he will not return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant with alleged ties to MS-13, to the U.S. following his deportation.
Trumpās administration has maintained that Garcia, an El Salvadoran national, should be detained in El Salvador due to his alleged ties to MS-13 and previous deportation orders from 2019. Following legal battles over the deportation, Bukele confirmed to CNNās Kaitlan Collins in the Oval Office that he does not have the power to āsmuggleā a foreign terrorist into the U.S.
āI suppose youāre suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States,ā Bukele said. āHow can I smuggle, how can I return him to the United States, like I smuggle him into the United States? Of course, Iām not going to do it. I mean, the question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I donāt have the power to return him to the United States. Weāre not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country. But you just turned the murder capital of the world to the safest country of the western hemisphere and you want us to go back into releasing criminals so we can go back to being the murder capital of the world? Thatās not gonna happen.ā
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Garcia, who unlawfully entered the U.S. in 2011, on March 12 and deported him to his native country, according to court documents. The Trump administration acknowledged that Garciaās deportation was a clerical error, though they have pointed to documents provided by Prince Georgeās County Police Department, which detailed Garciaās alleged gang name and rank, to argue that he should remain in El Salvador.
A judge granted Garcia protected status known as āwithholding of removalā in October 2019 after determining that he would likely be persecuted by gangs if deported back to El Salvador, according to the court documents. He settled in Maryland, married American citizen Jennifer Vasquez Sura and has one child.
The administration challenged an order directed by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama-appointed judge, who ruled Garciaās return to the U.S. must be effectuated. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts halted the judgeās order in an April 7 ruling, stating that the U.S. cannot ācompel El Salvador to follow a federal judgeās bidding.ā
The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled on Thursday that the U.S. should āfacilitateā the return of Garcia, and directed the lower court to clarify its order.
āThe District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,ā the order states. āFor its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.ā
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said on āAmericaās Newsroomā Monday that if El Salvador voluntarily sent Garcia back, he would be placed back into the hands of ICE and deported to a different country. He further said that an Immigration judgeās holding order on Garciaās deportation in 2019 is invalid since since he is allegedly a member of a foreign terrorist organization.
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