U.S. President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Monday that he would not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States despite a U.S. Supreme Court order that says the Trump administration should facilitate his return.
“I mean, the question is preposterous,” Bukele said at the White House during a meeting with President Donald Trump, when he was asked about sending Abrego Garcia back from the notorious Salvadoran prison where he has been held.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Trump, after insulting the CNN reporter who asked about Abrego Garcia, tossed the question about his return to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi said Abrego Garcia — who has never been convicted of a crime in the U.S. — had been determined by a judge to be a member of the MS-13 gang member, who was in the country illegally.
The federal judge currently handling the challenger to Abrego Garcia’s removal has said there is no evidence that he is a gang member.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said.
She said the Supreme Court’s ruling on Abrego Garcia only requires that the Trump administration “facilitate” his return, “meaning provide a plane,” if El Salvador decides to return him.
Trump then asked top White House advisor Stephen Miller to weigh in.
“He’s a citizen of El Salvador,” Miller said. “So it’s very arrogant, even, for American media to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”
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