U.S. President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The Trump administration told a federal judge on Monday that it does not have the authority to compel El Salvador to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States from a notorious prison despite a court order and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying that should happen.
That claim in a court filing came hours after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told reporters at the White House that he would not voluntarily return Abrego Garcia.
The Maryland resident was forcibly deported to his native country in March due to what the Trump administration has conceded was an administrative error.
Joseph Mazzara, acting General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, in the new filing said, “DHS has established processes for taking steps to remove domestic obstacles that would otherwise prevent an alien from lawfully entering the United States.”
“DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation,” Mazzara said in the filing in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
Mazzara, in the same filing to Judge Paula Xinis, noted Bukele’s statements about Abrego Garcia, which were made during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
“The question is preposterous,” Bukele said when he was asked about sending Abrego Garcia back from the prison.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Top Trump administration officials at the same meeting suggested they would not comply with Xinis’ demand that officials facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, despite the district and Supreme Court orders.
The Trump administration claims the married father of three is a gang member, pointing to a 2019 statement by a U.S. immigration judge.
U.S. Reps. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., at left, and Juan Vargas, D-Calif., hold pictures of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a news conference to discuss Abrego Garcia’s arrest and deportation, at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, April 9, 2025.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The administration also argues it has no legal responsibility to get him back
On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld Xinis’ original order that the administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return but asked her to clarify it.
Xinis quickly did so, and on Friday told the Trump administration to give her daily updates on the status of Abrego Garcia and about its efforts to get him back.
Bukele suggested he would not send Abrego Garcia to the U.S. even if Trump asked.
“I mean, we’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country,” the Salvadoran president said.
“We just turned the murder capital of the world into the safest country in the Western Hemisphere and you want us to go back into releasing criminals so we can go back to being the murder capital of the world?” Bukele said.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Trump then said that the media would “love” to have criminals released into the U.S., adding that the media are “sick people.”
He also said he wants Bukele to accept as many criminals as possible.
After insulting the CNN reporter who asked about Abrego Garcia, Trump had tossed the question about his return to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi said Abrego Garcia — who has never been convicted of a crime in the U.S. — had been determined in the courts to be a member of the gang MS-13 who was in the country illegally.
Xinis has said there is no evidence that he is a gang member.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said.
She said the Supreme Court’s ruling on Abrego Garcia only requires that the Trump administration “facilitate” his return, “meaning provide a plane,” if El Salvador decides to return him.
Trump then asked top White House advisor Stephen Miller to weigh in.
“He’s a citizen of El Salvador,” Miller said. “So it’s very arrogant, even, for American media to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio nodded along at Miller’s interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
After Bukele said he would not release Abrego Garcia, Rubio said, “I don’t understand what the confusion is.”
“This individual is a citizen of El Salvador,” Rubio said. “He was illegally in the United States and was returned to his country. That’s where you deport people back to their country of origin.”
“The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President of the United States, not by a court,” Rubio said. “And no court in the United States has a right to conduct a foreign policy in the United States, it’s that simple. End of story.”
When the CNN reporter attempted to ask Trump a follow-up question, the president replied, “How long do we have to answer this question from you?”
“Why don’t you just say: Isn’t it wonderful that we’re keeping criminals out of our country?” Trump said.