The Trump administration is continuing to seemingly do everything it can to avoid securing the safe return of 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month due to an “administrative error”.
After declining to provide any information on how it would facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. on Friday, senior State Department official Michael G. Kozak signed a declaration on Saturday swearing that while Abrego Garcia was “alive and secure” in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, he is also “detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
In addition, President Donald Trump posted a message to his Truth Social late Saturday that appears to confirm the U.S. is essentially wiping its hands of anyone deported to El Salvador. He wrote, “These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government.” President B is Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday.
This is despite Trump stating on Friday that he had the power to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, telling reporters on Air Force One, “If the Supreme Court said, ‘Bring somebody back,’ I would do that… I respect the Supreme Court.”
Those comments were then used against Trump in a motion filed by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, asking a federal judge to initiate the process of holding the Trump administration in contempt for failing to ensure Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador last month in what the Department of Justice has now admitted was an administrative error. But the DOJ is continuing to insist that it does not have the jurisdiction to reverse its mistake without violating El Salvador’s sovereignty.
After U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Abrego Garcia must be returned to the U.S., the issue was escalated to the Supreme Court, who on Thursday ruled unanimously that the Trump administration must take steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
The Trump administration’s Saturday statement was their response to a 5 p.m. deadline requiring them to file details about Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts and their efforts to secure his return. It was filed 10 minutes late, and included no information about Trump administration efforts to arrange Abrego Garcia’s safe return to the U.S.
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