Bukele Rejects U.S. Request to Return Maryland Man Deported to El Salvador
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele says there’s “no way” he’ll return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S., despite a Supreme Court push to repatriate the Maryland resident wrongly deported last month.
In a tense and controversial case straining diplomatic ties, President Bukele firmly rejected any notion of sending Abrego Garcia back to the United States. Speaking alongside Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, Bukele dismissed the idea as absurd.
“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele told reporters, adding, “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
The U.S. Supreme Court recently urged the administration to “facilitate” Garcia’s return. But both Bukele and Trump administration officials are pushing back.
Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, was deported to El Salvador and thrown into a notorious gang prison near San Salvador, despite an immigration court order that should have blocked his removal. The court cited credible fears he could face gang violence if deported.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security now says it has no authority to retrieve him. According to DHS counsel Joseph Mazzara, Garcia is under the legal jurisdiction of a “foreign sovereign nation.”
Trump administration officials claim Garcia is affiliated with MS-13—a designated foreign terrorist organization. But his lawyers say there’s no evidence supporting that claim. In fact, Garcia has never lived in New York, the location cited in a 2019 confidential informant’s allegation that he was part of an MS-13 clique.
Despite multiple court rulings in Garcia’s favor, U.S. officials have refused to clarify whether they’ll comply with the Supreme Court’s directive. A federal judge is now weighing whether to hold the government in contempt.
The case shines a spotlight on Bukele’s role in Trump’s hardline immigration agenda. Since March, El Salvador has taken in over 200 Venezuelan migrants the Trump administration labeled as gang-affiliated. Many were locked up in the country’s high-security Tecoluca prison as part of Bukele’s aggressive anti-gang crackdown.
In return, the U.S. has pledged around $6 million to help cover detention costs.
President Trump praised Bukele for his cooperation, saying:
“They have one hell of a president… We can do things with him for less money and have great security.”
He even floated the idea of sending U.S. citizens who’ve committed crimes to be imprisoned in El Salvador.
“We have bad ones too… You’ve got to build five more places,” Trump said in a video posted by Bukele.
Democrats are raising red flags over the treatment of Garcia and others swept up in mass deportations. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) requested a meeting with Bukele to discuss Garcia’s fate, while Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) condemned the administration’s actions:
“Disregarding the rule of law, ignoring Supreme Court rulings, and detaining people without due process makes us less safe.”
At home, Bukele’s prison crackdown—putting more than 84,000 people behind bars—has earned him sky-high approval ratings. But his suspension of basic rights under a three-year state of emergency has drawn criticism from international observers and the Biden administration.
Still, Bukele maintains that returning gang leaders is a matter of “national honor,” as El Salvador continues its war against organized crime.
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