Despite a Supreme Court order saying the Trump administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, President Trump and El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, have now publicly stated they will not facilitate his return to the United States.
Abrego Garcia is a Maryland resident who the Trump administration said was wrongfully deported to Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador.
| Date | Event |
| March 12, 2025 | Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, is detained by U.S. immigration agents. |
| March 15, 2025 | Despite a 2019 judge’s order protecting him from deportation, Abrego Garcia is sent to El Salvador and imprisoned in the CECOT mega-prison. The Trump administration later calls this an “administrative error.” |
| Late March 2025 | Abrego Garcia’s family and legal team file suit in federal court, seeking his return to the U.S. |
| April 4, 2025 | U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis orders the Trump administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. |
| April 10, 2025 | The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirms Judge Xinis’s order, instructing the government to “facilitate” his return, but does not set a strict deadline or specify enforcement mechanisms. |
| April 10, 2025 (night) | In a letter to U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Rossman, writes: “We expect that the United States will facilitate Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s immediate release from CECOT — tonight — and make all necessary arrangements for his return to this country, including by dispatching an aircraft to El Salvador to bring him home. As you know, given the conditions of Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s confinement, and the grave risk to his safety in El Salvador, time is of the essence.” |
| April 11, 2025 | Senior White House officials object to Judge Xinis’ ruling, arguing that a court cannot intervene in the foreign policy decision-making of the United States. |
| April 11, 2025 | The Justice Department issues a statement: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.” |
| April 11–12, 2025 | The Trump administration tells the court Abrego Garcia is alive and detained in El Salvador, but claims his fate is under Salvadoran jurisdiction. |
| April 12–13, 2025 | Judge Xinis demands daily updates and a detailed account of steps taken to secure Abrego Garcia’s return. |
| April 14, 2025 | In a joint Oval Office appearance, President Bukele declares he will not return Abrego Garcia, calling the request “preposterous.” Trump and his officials echo that the decision is El Salvador’s alone, despite the Supreme Court’s order. |
Why Trump and Bukele Refuse to Return Abrego Garcia
El Salvador’s Position:
President Bukele has repeatedly stated he will not return Abrego Garcia, referring to him as a “terrorist” and arguing that he lacks the authority to send him back to the U.S.
“How can I return him to the United States? 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 told reporters, insisting that Abrego Garcia’s detention is a matter of Salvadoran sovereignty.
Bukele has also cited security concerns, saying, “We are not particularly inclined to release terrorists,” despite the fact that Abrego Garcia has not been charged with any crime in either country,
None of the American detainees currently held in El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison have been charged with a crime, either in the United States or in El Salvador. Multiple sources confirm that these individuals, including Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, were deported without any criminal charges or convictions against them.
Furthermore, none of the detainees have had their day in court—neither in the U.S. nor in El Salvador. Reports indicate that the deportees were sent to El Salvador without due process or an opportunity to contest their removal before a judge.
The U.S. Constitution guarantees due process rights to all individuals in the United States, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status. This means that before someone can be deprived of life, liberty, or property, including through deportation, they are entitled to fair treatment and a legal hearing to defend their rights.
The Trump administration is capable of bringing people back into the United States when they want to. Multiple reports in February talked about how the Trump administration, including administration officials and his son, Donald Trump, Jr. worked to bring Andrew and Tristan Tate to the United States, event though they were arrested in Romania in June 2023, charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women. They were also under investigation in the UK and U.S.
Multiple credible reports indicate that senior Trump administration officials, including special envoy Richard Grenell, raised the Tate brothers’ case with Romanian authorities at high-level meetings, notably during the Munich Security Conference in early February 2025. The Financial Times and other outlets reported that the Trump administration advocated for the lifting of the Tates’ travel ban, and Romanian officials acknowledged that the case was discussed with U.S. representatives, though they denied being pressured.
On February 27, 2025, Romanian prosecutors lifted the travel restrictions on the Tate brothers, allowing them to board a flight to Florida. Their lawyer confirmed that the change in their status came after these diplomatic discussions and at the defense’s request. The brothers arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 27, 2025, and have since been seen at public events in the U.S., though they are still required to return to Romania for court proceedings.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said “That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”
Bondi said the administration’s obligation only extended to providing a plane.
“What we saw today at the White House should shock every American who cares about our system of checks and balances and the rule of law,” Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice said in a statement.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has been clear that Mr. Kilmar García should be brought back to his family in Maryland. Yet, today, President Trump said they have no plans to abide by the Court’s ruling and return a man that President Trump’s own Department of Justice acknowledges was mistakenly deported.
“Even more disturbing, during today’s meeting, Trump acknowledged his plan to send U.S. citizens to El Salvador’s prisons.
“All of this is a reminder why immigration is the tip of the spear for Trump’s larger assault on key pillars of our democracy and why what’s at stake should alarm Americans of all political persuasions.”
During the Oval Office meeting with Bukele on Monday Trump discussed expanding the scope of his administration’s deportation policies to include American citizens.
Trump suggested that “homegrown” American criminals should be included in the deportation program. “The homegrowns are next,” he said to Bukele. “I said homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You gotta build about five more places.”
El Salvador’s prisons have been widely criticized by organizations like Human Rights Watch for their harsh conditions, including allegations of torture, lack of medical care, and incommunicado detention.
