El Salvador's president claims he can't return Abrego Garcia to US

In a meeting with President Trump on Monday, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said it was

preposterous to think his country could send back a Maryland man who was wrongly deported by the

Trump administration, labeling Kilmar Abrego Garcia a terrorist and saying he has no authority

to return him to the United States. Take a listen. Do you plan to return him? Well, I'm

I'm supposedly not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States, right

How can I smuggle? How can I return him to the United States

Like, I smuggle him into the United States or whether I do it? Of course, I'm not going to do it

It's like, I mean, the question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States

I don't have the power to return him to the United States. Trump directed reporters with questions to Attorney General Pam Bondi

who said this about Abrego Garcia's court-ordered return. First and foremost, he was illegally in our country

He had been illegally in our country. And in 2019, two courts, an immigration court and an appellate immigration court

ruled that he was a member of MS-13 and he was illegally in our country

Right now, it was a paperwork. It was additional paperwork that needed to be done

That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That's not up to us

Bondi called the incident an international and foreign affairs matter and says the U.S

would facilitate Abrego Garcia return if El Salvador decides to send him back by providing a plane A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate and effectuate Abrego Garcia

return last week, a ruling affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices Elena Kagan and Kentonji Brown-Jackson wrote a statement in reference to the affirmation

writing, 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

Immigrant advocacy group CASA gave a statement about the case, saying they are outraged by the

unlawful deportation, describing Abrego Garcia as, quote, an excellent father of three children

and arguing the defiance of the court order from the federal government puts his life in danger

The Trump administration reported Abrego Garcia is alive and detained in El Salvador

The new developments in the case of Abrego Garcia come as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

said Sunday another 10 people who he says are gang members were sent to El Salvador in a social

media post. Trump also praised Bukele for taking enemy aliens off of the United States' hands and

told him Monday he hopes he builds more prisons in El Salvador to help the U.S. in its ongoing

mass deportation efforts. For more on this story, you can download the Straight Arrow news app

or visit us online at san.com