President Donald Trump’s border czar said a Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador is “exactly where he should be”—despite a Supreme Court ruling demanding his return.
“I think we did the right thing here,” Tom Homan told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “We removed a public safety threat, a national security threat, a violent gang member to the United States.”
“I think he’s exactly where he should be,” he added.
The Trump administration deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to an El Salvadorian megaprison last month alongside hundreds of other men. The administration admitted in court filings that Abrego Garcia was deported because of an “administrative error,” and the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the government to “facilitate” his return.
Trump has refused to retrieve Abrego Garcia from El Salvador despite the Supreme Court order, claiming he is a terrorist and that he is under Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele’s jurisdiction. The decision came despite federal judges on the district and appellate court levels demanding he do so.
Homan claimed repeatedly that multiple agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the country of El Salvador itself, have verified that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 member.
An administrative judge in immigration court ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia was affiliated with the MS-13 gang based on a confidential informant’s testimony. But the judge declined to deport Abrego Garcia because he said he would face persecution back home, and Abrego Garcia has denied any gang affiliation; his attorneys have called the evidence “whispers and shadows.”
Host Karl asked how the administration then planned to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling this month that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. and allow him his due process rights. Homan demurred to the administration’s oft-repeated line that Abrego Garcia was in sovereign territory.
“I understand ‘facilitate,’ but he’s also in custody. He’s a citizen and a national of the country of El Salvador. El Salvador would certainly have to cooperate in that, but again, I’m out of the loop on that,” he said.
Homan also deflected on whether Trump could demand Abrego Garcia’s return, repeatedly claiming he was “not in the loop” on administrative conversations. “I can’t comment on something I don’t know,” he said.
“I mean, you know President Trump,” Karl said. “You’ve talked about how, you know, he can get things done. I mean, if he wanted the guy returned, he could get him returned, right?”
“I’m not going to comment on a conversation I’m not a part of,” Homan shot back. “I don’t know what conversations we’re having, what conversations who’s having, what conversation, what officials.”
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