El Salvador’s President Met With Trump And Said He Won’t Return A Wrongly Deported Man Jailed In Its Mega Prison
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador for allegedly being part of Salvadoran gang MS-13.
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele met with US president Donald Trump and said the country will not return a man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador’s mega prison.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran citizen who was residing in the US under protected legal status, was one of the more than 200 Venezuelans and Salvadorans deported by the US to CECOT, El Salvador's notorious mega-prison, on March 15 for allegedly being part of a gang.
Abrego Garcia had moved to the US in 2011 when he was 16 as an undocumented migrant, but a judge ruled in 2019 he was allowed to legally reside in the US without being deported as he may face persecution from gangs if he returned to El Salvador.
On March 12, US immigration officials stopped Abrego Garcia after he picked up his son and arrested him in Maryland, saying his immigration status had changed.
He was then deported to El Salvador for allegedly being part of Salvadoran gang MS-13.
Abrego Garcia has denied the allegations and the US has yet to provide concrete evidence to back up its claim.
On April 4, a court in Maryland ordered the US to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the US.
On April 10, the US Supreme Court also ruled unanimously that the Trump administration should facilitate Garcia’s return and provide him “with all the process to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador”.
The US government acknowledged that Garcia had an order stopping him from being deported and admitted that sending him to El Salvador was an “administrative error”.
However, the Trump administration has refused to comply with the court’s order, saying it was not valid because of Garcia’s membership to MS-13, according to Reuters.
During a meeting with Trump at the Oval Office on Monday, April 15, Bukele told reporters he would not return Abrego Garcia to the US.
Meanwhile, Trump joked that Bukele will have to build more prisons for the US to receive more “homegrown criminals” from the US.
He also praised Bukele’s tough-on-crime approach, with Bukele saying he was willing to help with the US’ crime and terrorism problem.
Sofia Hou
Sofia Hou
