President Donald Trump and the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, met at the White House on Monday, were repeatedly pressed on what is still with respect to the unfair deportation of Kilmar Abrego García, a migrant from Maryland.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters in the Oval office: “It depends on El Salvador if they want to return it,” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio called him citizen of El Salvador.
Bukele, the self -described “the best dictator in the world” that has become a key ally in the controversial migrant deportations of the administration, indicated, when an informed was asked, which would not take measures to free Abrego García.
“I don’t have the power to return it to the United States,” Bukele said.
President Donald Trump meets with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on April 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration last week to “facilitate” the return of Abrego García. Trump said Friday: “If the Supreme Court said to bring someone back, I would tell them to do so. I respect the Supreme Court.”
However, Trump seemed to amend that statement, in a publication on social networks during the weekend, where he suggested the fate of the deportees now rests with Bukele.
“I hope to see President Bukele, from El Salvador, on Monday! Our nations are working closely together to eradicate terrorist organizations and build a future of prosperity. President Bukele has graciously accepted under the custody of his nation, some of the most violent alien enemies in the world and, in particular, the United States,” Trump wrote. “These barbarians are now under the custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign nation, and their future depends on President B and his government.”
The Department of Justice argued in judicial presentations that the courts “had no authority to direct how the Executive Power is involved in foreign relations and argued that the Administration could not interfere with the sovereignty of El Salvador. Another audience is established in the case of Tuesday.
Before Monday’s meeting, President Trump said he thought Bukele was “doing a fantastic job” and “taking care of many problems that we really could not take care of from the point of view of costs.”
“We have some very bad people in that prison, people who should never have been allowed in our country, people who murder through drug traffickers, some of the worst people on Earth are in that prison and can do it,” Trump told journalists on Air Force One when he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday.
President Donald Trump welcomes the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, at the White House in Washington, on April 14, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
When more pressed more about the alleged abuse of human rights reported in the notorious mega prisbil of El Salvador, Cecot, President Trump said: “I don’t see it. I don’t see that happens.”
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants who claim to be members of Venezuelan gangs from El Salvador, although they have done so with due process.
Rubio, in a publication on social networks during the weekend, said the efforts continued with another 10 alleged criminals associated with MS-13 and Aragua train deported to El Salvador.
Rubio wrote that the “alliance” between Trump and Bukele “has become an example of security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”
The Salvadora prison escort alleged that the members of the Venezuelan Gang Train of Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the United States government in the prison of Cecot, in Tecoluca, El Salvador on April 12, 2025.
Press Secretary of the Presidency Via Reuters
In addition, Trump and several officials have floated sending US citizens convicted of violent crimes to the infamous prison of El Salvador, something that legal experts have said that the Constitution would violate.
“The president has discussed this idea several times publicly. He has also discussed it in private,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, journalists last week.
“These would be atrocious and violent criminals that have violated the laws of our nation repeatedly. And these are violent repeat offenders in US streets,” Leavitt continued.
“The president has said that if it is legal, correct, if there is a legal path to do so, it is not sure. We are not sure if there is. It is an idea that has simply floated and discussed, very publicly, as in the effort of transparency,” he said.
