The White House “intends to comply” with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has said he does not plan to send Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia back to the United States, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
“He is an El Salvadorian national,” Leavitt said. “That is his home country. That is where he belongs, and the administration intends to comply with what President Bukele said. … He does not intend to send that individual back.”
The Trump administration initially acknowledged that it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father, to El Salvador’s terrorist prison in March, calling it an “administrative error.” The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the United States earlier this month. Since, the district judge overseeing the case has excoriated the administration for doing “nothing” to that effect, suggesting she could hold the administration in contempt.