President Trump stated that he has not asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to hand over Kilmar Abrego Garcia to US custody, despite the fact that the US admitted that deporting him to El Salvador was a mistake. In an interview published Friday, Mr. Trump described Abrego Garcia’s case as “another men in women’s sports thing for the Democrats.”
“I haven’t asked him positively, but he said he wouldn’t,” Mr. Trump said when asked by Time magazine if he had requested that Bukele return Abrego Garcia, despite a court order requiring the administration to “facilitate” his release. “My attorneys have not asked me to ask him. No one asked me to ask him that question, except you.”
Trump administration officials have argued that they cannot return Abrego Garcia to the United States because it is up to Bukele to decide whether to do so. However, Bukele stated in a White House meeting earlier this month that he does not “have the power” to return him on his own. “Do I smuggle him into the United States, or what should I do? Of course, I won’t do it. “The question is ridiculous,” Bukele told journalists.
The case has resulted in a legal standoff. Abrego Garcia, who entered the United States illegally in 2011, was sent to CECOT, a maximum-security Salvadoran prison, last month alongside hundreds of other migrants, despite a judge’s previous order that he not be sent to El Salvador.
Federal officials have described his removal as a “administrative error,” but he has not been returned despite a court ruling — upheld by the Supreme Court — that the administration must facilitate his return. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has stated that the Trump administration has not followed her orders.
Earlier this month, Abrego Garcia was transferred from CECOT to a less secure facility.
Mr. Trump told Time that his administration follows the courts. He also stated that it “wouldn’t bother me” if Abrego Garcia were brought back to the United States and tried in American courts, but that decision is up to his administration’s attorneys.
As some high-profile elected Democrats advocate for Abrego Garcia’s return, Mr. Trump stated that he sees the case as a political opportunity.
“I think this is another men in women’s sports thing for the Democrats,” he said, most likely referring to debates over transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports, which was a central theme of Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign messaging.
When asked if Abrego Garcia “deserves his day in court,” Mr. Trump referred to him as a member of the notorious MS-13 gang and a “wife beater,” repeating accusations made by his administration for weeks.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have denied MS-13 membership and stated that he has not been charged with a crime. Abrego Garcia’s wife accused him of domestic violence in a 2021 protective order request, but she has since told reporters that the situation did not escalate, and she chose not to proceed with the court process.