Trump Administration Refuses To Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia To United States After Supreme Court Ruling

The Trump administration said Monday it will not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident it “erroneously sent to a hard labor prison in El Salvador,” despite the Supreme Court unanimously upholding a lower-court ruling ordering it to “facilitate” his return.

“El Salvador's leader will not return man deported from the US in error El Salvador will not return Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the US government deported to his home country where he is being held in a mega-prison”

BBC

Democracy Docket reported that President Donald Trump last month invoked the Alien Enemies Act to transfer Abrego Garcia and hundreds of other people to El Salvador, and that Attorney General Pam Bondi told El Salvador President Nayib Bukele that the U.S. could not order El Salvador to return him.

BBC

In the Oval Office meeting, White House aide Stephen Miller said bringing Abrego Garcia back would constitute “kidnapping” and an “invasion of El Salvador’s sovereignty,” while the Justice Department acknowledged in court filings that the U.S. government erred in sending him.

NBC News reported that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told reporters, “How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” during the meeting with Trump.

NBC News also said the Supreme Court called Abrego Garcia’s removal illegal and directed the administration to “facilitate” his return while being respectful of the president’s authority.

NBC News quoted Trump telling reporters that “They'd love to have a criminal released into our country. These are sick people,” after Bukele said he would not return Abrego Garcia to the United States.

NBC News also reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi said, "If they want to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane. That’s up for El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us."

Democracy Docket

Democracy Docket said White House aide Stephen Miller falsely stated that the Supreme Court had ruled in the Trump administration’s favor, and it reported that the Supreme Court said the order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador.”

Democracy Docket further reported that Benjamin Osorio, an attorney for Abrego Garcia, told ABC News that it might take a contempt order from the courts to prompt the U.S. government to return him.

NBC News added that Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said the Trump administration’s position was “absolutely unsustainable,” and that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Bukele’s comments “pure nonsense.”

The dispute centers on whether the U.S. will comply with court-ordered steps to bring Abrego Garcia back, after the Trump administration acknowledged it “erroneously sent” him to El Salvador and after the Supreme Court required the government to “facilitate” his release.

“On Monday, a month after the US government shipped more than 230 Venezuelans and other migrants to a megaprison in El Salvador with seemingly no chance of return, President Donald Trump extended the red carpet to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele”

Mother Jones

Politico reported that Michael Kozak, a top State Department official, submitted a written declaration saying, “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador,” as the administration continued to refuse details about steps to return him.

Politico said Kozak’s update included just 49 words on Abrego Garcia’s location and no information about what officials had already done or planned to do to correct the error, and it described a “brewing showdown” with U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.

Democracy Docket reported that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador $6 million to imprison Abrego García and hundreds of other immigrants, and that the vast majority have no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.

NBC News reported that Abrego Garcia has never been charged criminally in the United States or El Salvador, and it quoted Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, saying, “DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”