El Salvador will not return Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran citizen whom the United States government deported to his country of origin due to an “administrative error,” according to authorities.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele made the statement during a meeting on Monday (15) at the White House with Donald Trump, with whom he maintains a strong relationship.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Ábrego García, who lived in Maryland with his family and received protection against deportation from a court in 2019.
The Trump administration argues that it cannot bring him back, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said it is “up to El Salvador to decide whether it wants to return him or not.”
Trump praised Bukele for a new partnership that allows the U.S. to deport people the country claims are gang members to the Central American nation. Ábrego García, who according to lawyers and family is not a gang member, was among the 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans whom the Trump administration deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot).
During Monday’s visit, Trump also repeated that he wanted to deport some U.S. citizens who are violent criminals to Salvadoran prisons if his administration determined it was legal.
“We always have to obey the laws, but we also have local criminals who push people into the subway, who hit elderly women on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, who are absolute monsters,” Trump told reporters.
“I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to look at the laws on that,” the U.S. president added.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that another 10 alleged gang members had been sent there, despite legal questions about those who have already been deported. The U.S. considers them suspects of belonging to the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs, classified as “foreign terrorist organizations” by Trump.
Trump told reporters last week that if the Supreme Court said “bring someone back, I would do it.” But so far, the administration has given no indication that it is making any effort to do so.
On the contrary, the Department of Justice cited Bukele’s comments that Ábrego García would not be returned to the U.S. as an update in its latest court filing.
In response to a previous U.S. Supreme Court decision that the government should facilitate the release of Mr. Ábrego García, lawyers wrote on Sunday that the issue was a matter of foreign policy—and beyond the courts’ control.
Ábrego García’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, said “the Trump and Bukele governments continue to play political games with his life.”
“My heart is heavy, but I cling to hope and the strength of those around me. For our children, our family, and all immigrants fighting for their loved ones, Kilmar, we will not stop fighting for you,” she said in a statement.
The U.S. government admitted that Ábrego García was deported due to an “administrative error,” although it also claims he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Source: BBC