Trump Brags That He’s Got the “Best Relationship” With the “Coolest Dictator in the World”

During a friendly Oval Office meet-and-greet with Donald Trump, El Salvador leader Nayib Bukele, the self-described “coolest dictator in the world,” said he would not return the Maryland father the US regime mistakenly deported to his hellish prison. “Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said, claiming without basis that Kilmar Abrego Garcia—who has no criminal record in the United States—is a “terrorist.”

“The question is preposterous,” the strongman told reporters, as a smiling Trump nodded approvingly. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”

Abrego Garcia, who was picking up his five-year-old from the child’s grandmother’s house when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was expelled through an “oversight,” the Trump administration acknowledged in court last month. Nevertheless, it has insisted it does not need to return him to the US: Trump defied a lower court order to bring Abrego Garcia back, and his Justice Department claimed that a Supreme Court decision requiring the administration to “effectuate” his release did not actually mean they were obligated to do so.

“The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way,” DOJ lawyers said Sunday.

Trump and his administration officials maintained that posture Monday, as they hosted Bukele—El Salvador’s authoritarian leader who has become a darling of the MAGA right. “No version of this legally ends with [Abrego Garcia] ever living here,” Stephen Miller said Monday, denying that the man was accidentally deported and insisting that he is a gang member. “The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The administration’s defiance in the face of court orders—including from the Supreme Court—further escalates Trump’s assault on the separation of powers, and underscores the authoritarian nature of his deportation program: Though he apparently committed no crime, and was arrested via “administrative error,” Abrego Garcia was sent to Bukele’s inhumane gulag—and both Bukele and the Trump administration are claiming that they can’t do anything about it.

It’s an abuse of power, and Trump doesn’t just want to wield it against foreign nationals; during his meeting with Bukele, the president again told reporters that he would like to deport US citizens to El Salvador, as well. “We have millions of people that should not be in this country,” Trump said, asking Bukele to “build more” draconian jail complexes. “I’d like to go a step further,” the president added. “We also have homegrown criminals…I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country.”

It’s not just an idle suggestion; as Rolling Stone reported last week, the administration has been seriously discussing how it could denaturalize and deport US citizens: “I hope Trump and his team are trailblazers on this,” Mike Davis, a close ally of the president, told the outlet.

Such a plan would surely be brazenly illegal—and would, like Abrego Garcia’s expulsion, likely be rejected by federal courts. But it doesn’t seem like that would matter to this president, who sees in the authoritarian Bukele a kindred figure. “To liberate 350 million people,” Bukele said, “you have to imprison some.”

“I have a great relationship with this man,” Trump said at one point, returning his praise. “I have the best relationship with him.”