It was made ckear by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele that he won't be returning the criminal Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States, after Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters it's "up to El Salvador" whether the man mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison returns to the U.S.
Bukele and Bondi made the comments in the Oval Office alongside President Trump, as the two world leaders met. Over the weekend, the Justice Department said in court filings that they're willing to take "all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles" to facilitate his return.
"How can I return him to the United States?" Bukele asked the press. "I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course, I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous."
Bukele described Garcia as a "terrorist," and said "I don't have the power to return him to the United States."
Bondi, speaking before Bukele, said it's "up to El Salvador if they want to return him." Bondi said that "first and foremost, he was illegally in our country."
"That's not up to us," Bondi said. "The Supreme Court ruled, President, that if El Salvador wants to return him ... we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane."
But the Supreme Court offered no qualifier of whether El Salvador wants to return Garcia. The court ruled that a lower court order properly required the government to "facilitate" his release from El Salvador's custody. The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must facilitate the release of the man, who lives in Maryland, from custody, but ordered additional proceedings before a federal district court.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the Justice Department to provide daily updates on their efforts to return Abrego Garcia. In Monday's filing, the Justice Department noted Bukele's Oval Office comments. The filing also said that "DHS does not have the authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation."
Garcia's lawyers insist he has no affiliation with MS-13, and has never been charged or convicted of any criminal offenses in the U.S. or El Salvador. The Trump administration acknowledged that his deportation to the high-security prison in El Salvador known as CECOT was an "administrative error."