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President Donald Trump has suggested that he could potentially intervene to bring back a Salvadoran man wrongly deported from Maryland, but added he would not act, even in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court order, Reuters reported on Wednesday. “I could,” Trump told ABC News when asked if he had the power to call El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to help facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return. “I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this,” he added. “I follow the law.”
The case has drawn national attention after the Supreme Court ordered the U.S. government on April 10 to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. Despite that, the Trump administration has claimed it cannot act because the 29-year-old is now imprisoned in El Salvador and that only Salvadoran authorities can take action.
“This case illustrates the risks to everyone’s due process and constitutional rights,” U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, wrote in a letter to Trump on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Van Hollen noted that recent comments from El Salvador’s vice president suggest the country has no legal basis to keep Abrego Garcia detained.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland under a protective immigration order granted in 2019. He was detained by U.S. immigration officials in March, questioned about alleged MS-13 gang ties — which his lawyers deny — and deported on one of three flights carrying migrants to El Salvador.
The White House has claimed that Abrego Garcia is affiliated with MS-13, which the Trump administration has labelled a foreign terrorist organisation. Trump doubled down on the accusation during the ABC interview, reportedly saying, “I was elected to take care of a problem.”
Trump also dismissed a court admission from a government lawyer who said Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake. “The government lawyer who admitted the mistake ‘should not have said that,’” Trump told ABC.
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