El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Monday said he would not return a man who the Trump administration admits was mistakenly deported to the Central American country as part of a controversial US migration crackdown.
“The question is preposterous. How can I return him to the United States? It’s like, I smuggle him into the United States? … I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” Bukele said at a meeting in the Oval Office with US President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has been ordered by a court to facilitate the man’s return after he was deported without due process
Trump administration officials emphasised that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to a notorious gang prison in El Salvador, was a citizen of that country and that the US has no say in his future. Bukele has been a vital partner for the Trump administration in its deportation efforts.
Should El Salvador want to return Abrego Garcia, the US would “facilitate it, meaning provide a plane”, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
But she added: “He was illegally in our country.”