By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has said he will not release a Maryland father who was wrongly deported to a notorious El Salvador mega prison last month.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 12 and sent to the Central American country’s terrorism confinement center known as “CECOT” on March 15. His deportation defied a 2019 order from a U.S. immigration judge that protected him from deportation to El Salvador due to credible threats to his life from gangs in the country.
Though the U.S. Supreme Court has instructed the U.S. government to “facilitate” his return, during an April 14 Oval Office meeting with the 47th president, Bukele said helping Abrego Garcia return would be “preposterous,” according to AP reporting.
“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” said Bukele to reporters in the Oval Office on April 14. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Maryland legislator doubles down
Bukele’s response came one day after a meeting request from Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
Upon learning that El Salvador has no intentions of helping to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, the Maryland senator reiterated his plans to travel to the Central American country if Abrego Garcia is not back in the states this week.
“I’ve made clear that if we can’t meet here, I do intend to go to El Salvador to discuss the release of this individual who is illegally detained— a Maryland man, who is the father of three in a notorious prison in El Salvador,” said Van Hollen, in an April 14 video on his X account. “I believe the president of El Salvador will recognize why it’s important to allow him to return to the United States of America because it is absolutely unjust and illegal to have this Marylander detained one more day in a notorious prison in El Salvador.”
Van Hollen pointed out that the 47th president could have requested that Bukele return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., but he didn’t— something he was not surprised about. The 47th presidential administration maintains that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though none of these claims have been substantiated and no charges have been brought against him.
“This is an administration that has lied about Mr. Abrego Garcia. The vice president of the United States tweeted out that he has a criminal record. That was a lie. They’re just lying,” continued Van Hollen. “They’ve gotten caught lying. They don’t want to admit it. They have an obligation to bring him home, but I will say the president of El Salvador should not now take it upon himself to say that he is detaining him for one more day because that is kidnapping.”
Hundreds caught up in U.S.- Salvadoran CECOT deal
In 2025, the 47th president entered into a deal with Bukele in which the U.S. will pay $6 million annually to detain individuals deported from the U.S. in El Salvador’s CECOT prison. These individuals include those that the administration suspects to be members of gangs, like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua.
Hundreds of people, including Abrego Garcia, have since been sent to the facility, majority of whom are Venezuelan.
Abrego Garcia’s case went to the Supreme Court after the 47th presidential administration appealed a decision by a Maryland district court judge, which ruled that the U.S. government must “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return. The Supreme Court took issue with the use of the word “effectuate,” as it may exceed the court’s authority, but upheld that the government must facilitate his return.
The district court judge quickly amended her order on April 11, directing the government to take all available steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. as soon as possible.
White House officials admit mistake, but won’t lead efforts to fix wrongful deportation
The 47th presidential administration has admitted that the deportation was an error but has not disclosed any actions to return Abrego Garcia. On April 13, Justice Department lawyers contended that the Supreme Court’s ruling only requires the U.S. to remove any domestic obstacles that would impede his ability to return.
They argued that anything more would violate the separation of powers and asserted that federal courts cannot direct the executive branch to conduct foreign relations. Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security has since said the U.S. does not have the authority to forcibly extract Abrego Garcia from El Salvador because he is in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.
In an April 10 statement, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor explained that the U.S. government has yet to cite any legal basis for Abrego Garcia’s arrest and deportation. She noted that the government remains bound by the immigration judge’s 2019 order that prohibited his deportation to El Salvador.
“Instead of hastening to correct this egregious error, the government dismissed it as an ‘oversight,’” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the statement. “The government now requests an order from this court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by law.”
“The only argument the government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong. The government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene,” she continued.
U.S. officials have confirmed that Abrego Garcia is alive and secure in the Salvadoran mega prison, but no plan has been announced for his return. The federal government stands by the claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang and believes that this nullifies the order protecting him from removal to El Salvador.
On April 10, Maryland Governor Wes Moore issued a statement, noting that the state can support federal law enforcement while adhering to the U.S. Constitution. This includes a chance for Abrego Garcia to defend himself against these allegations.
“As the governor of Maryland, public safety is my number one priority. But, our system of justice demands fairness,” said Moore in a statement. “The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously spoken that fairness is expected for Kilmar. We expect that the president will uphold the rule of law, provide Kilmar the due process our Constitution requires and bring him home to his family.”
