The Trump administration has been in direct communication with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele regarding the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García to a notorious prison in El Salvador, according to sources familiar with the matter. Despite the US Supreme Court ordering Ábrego García’s release and return to the US for immigration proceedings, the Trump administration has shown no interest in his return.
The contacts between the Trump administration and Bukele have not yielded any new developments, as Bukele rejected the outreach. The discussions seem to be an effort by the Trump administration to create a paper trail it could reference before US District Judge Paula Xinis, who previously ruled that President Donald Trump raising the matter in the Oval Office was insufficient.
Ábrego García has since been moved out of Cecot, the mega-prison officials known as the terrorism confinement center, to another prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration’s reluctance to compliance has been evident as senior advisers have become increasingly determined to use this case to test the extent of presidential power.
In an interview with ABC News, the US President himself said he “could” tell El Salvador to return Ábrego García. But when asked if he had the ability to call Bukele and tell him to “send him back right now,” Trump deflected responsibility. “I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this,” he said.
The remarks could give the Department of Justice major headaches in court as it prepares in the coming weeks to face a series of probing questions from Ábrego García’s lawyers. By Trump saying that his lawyers had told him not to call Bukele, it could open the department up to questions about whether they were deliberately flouting the order and place them in threat of contempt.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/30/trump-kilmar-abrego-garcia-nayib-bukele
