If he wanted, Donald Trump could release Kilmar Abrego García from the Salvadoran prison where he has been held after being mistakenly deported in March. But he has no intention of doing so, the president admitted in an interview with ABC News broadcast Tuesday night.
The Republican’s statements clearly defy the country’s courts and contradict previous statements by him and his administration, which has insisted it lacks the ability to bring the man back because he is in the custody of a foreign government. This is despite the Supreme Court’s demand that it facilitate his return.
“You could bring him back. There’s a phone on this desk,” ABC News reporter Terry Moran told him in the Oval Office interview taped to commemorate his 100th day in office.
“I could,” the president replied.
Pointing to the phone on the Republican’s desk, Moran insisted: “You could take it and, with all the power of the presidency, you could call the president of El Salvador and say, ‘Send him back.’”
To which Trump retorted: “And if [Abrego] were the gentleman you say he is, he would do it. But he’s not.”
The president added that government lawyers do not want to bring the Salvadoran immigrant back.
“I’m not the one who made this decision,” he asserted, though he later admitted that if it weren’t for the Supreme Court order, “I would probably keep him where he is.”
Before acknowledging that he might release the 29-year-old Maryland resident, Trump justified his deportation, insisting that he is a member of the Salvadoran criminal gang MS-13, which his administration has designated as a terrorist organization.
“[Abrego García] is a tough guy, he’s been in a lot of skirmishes, he beat his wife, and she was terrified to speak about him. This is not some innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland,” he argued.
Abrego García’s lawyers and family maintain that he has never been a gang member and has not been charged or convicted of any crime. His wife has led the fight for his return since he was deported to his home country on March 15 along with 250 other Salvadorans and Venezuelans, all accused of having ties to Latin American gangs, and imprisoned in an infamous Salvadoran prison.
The government admitted in early April that his deportation had been an “administrative error,” as the migrant had a 2019 court order prohibiting his expulsion because he could be targeted by local gangs in El Salvador. Following his expulsion, a federal judge in Maryland ordered the government to facilitate his return to the United States on April 4, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court on April 10.
However, the Trump administration maintains that it can do nothing to bring him back because he is being held in a foreign country whose authorities refuse to release him.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. It’s not up to us,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month.
Furthermore, the government continues to claim that Abrego García is a violent criminal, despite having no evidence to prove it. Its accusation is based on a police report that states the migrant belongs to the MS-13 gang based on the clothing he was wearing when he was approached by authorities in 2019.
Regarding the Supreme Court order, the Justice Department maintains that it can do nothing more than allow him to enter the United States if he is released and presents himself at a port of entry. However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has indicated that if that were to happen, she would “immediately deport him again.”