The fate of a mistake from the United States in prison in El Salvador remains uncertain. The White House and President Bukele reject a return – despite a judgment of the Supreme US Court.
In the controversial deportation of a man to a prison in El Salvador, the head of state of the Central American country and the White House remain hard. The decision was with President Nayib Bukele alone, said US Justice Minister Pam Bondi at a meeting in the White House.
The Supreme Court decided that the US government only had to support the return of the Salvadorian Kilmar Abrego Garcia, said Bondi. The United States could provide an airplane for the return. However, she argued that it was due to El Salvador's government whether she wanted to send him back.
Bukele said at the meeting with US President Donald Trump: “How can I bring him back to the United States, should I smuggle him into the United States?” Of course he won't do that, said Bukele. He also rejected the man's release in his country. He was not impressed by releasing “terrorists” in his country.
US government clears “Administrative Error “one
According to US media, Abrego Garcia had entered the United States in 2012. Although his asylum application was rejected in 2019, he received protection against deportation for impending persecution. On March 12 of this year, he was still arrested in Maryland and deported a few days later. In this case, the Trump government granted an “administrative mistake”-but states that Abrego Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13. He denies that.
At a request from the responsible Federal Court of Abrego Garcia's whereabouts and possible steps to return, the US government had announced at the weekend that the man is still in prison in El Salvador and was “alive and safe”. However, it did not name any concrete measures to return.
Trump wants to expand deportations to US citizens
Since Trump's taking office, the United States has deported more than 250 migrants to El Salvador, where they are detained in a prison for serious criminals. The US government accuses them of being members of the two Latin American gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. The Trump government had both put on the list of foreign “terrorist organizations” in February.
At the meeting with President Bukele, Trump repeated his controversial plans to deport off-scale US citizens to El Salvador in the future. However, he only wants to implement this measure if his government considers it legally permissible. Numerous civil rights organizations had already criticized the project in advance. Many constitutional lawyers consider Trump's advance to be clearly unconstitutional.
