Trump says he 'could' return man wrongly deported by US, but won’t

ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has the power to bring back Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a resident of the US state of Maryland who was mistakenly deported to a jail in El Salvador, but has chosen not to act.

“I could,” Trump told ABC News, suggesting that a call to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele could reverse the deportation.

However, he insisted Abrego Garcia was a “MS-13 gang member” and “not an innocent, wonderful gentleman,” accusing him of domestic abuse and gang ties – claims the deported man and his legal team deny and which they never had an opportunity to contest in court.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, entered the US in 2011 and later married a US citizen. In 2019, a judge granted a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador due to threats from gangs there.

Despite the legal protection, Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15 in what US officials called an “administrative error,” without any due process to dispute the allegations against him.

He was jailed without trial at El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison under a US-backed agreement that detains some deportees.

El Salvador’s president has refused to allow his return.

ISTANBUL

“I could,” Trump told ABC News, suggesting that a call to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele could reverse the deportation.

Despite the legal protection, Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15 in what US officials called an “administrative error,” without any due process to dispute the allegations against him.

He was jailed without trial at El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison under a US-backed agreement that detains some deportees.

El Salvador’s president has refused to allow his return.