President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday night that he could bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador – contradicting statements from the administration, which asserted it couldn’t do anything to return him.
In a contentious sit-down interview with the president, ABC News correspondent Terry Moran told the president he could “get him back” if he picked up the phone and called President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.
“I could,” Trump said. “And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that. But he is not.”
Multiple judges, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have asked the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return after Trump administration lawyers said in court filings that he was accidentally deported due to administrative errors.
But the Trump administration has walked back the government lawyer’s assertion and refused to return Abrego Garcia. They claim he was rightfully deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador because he was a member of the MS-13 gang.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who has lived in Maryland for years, was awarded protections to remain in the United States in 2019 after entering the country illegally in 2012. The evidence presented tying him to MS-13 is vague, and judges have come to different conclusions about his ties to the gang.
The administration has been accused of defying federal judges’ orders in refusing to facilitate his return and the president’s admission on Tuesday evening could further bolster those accusations.
But members of the Trump administration assert their hands are tied and have passed responsibility for returning Abrego Garcia to others.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller claimed it was up to El Salvador to return him. Bukele, meanwhile, has said he cannot return Abrego Garcia because it would be as if he released a terrorist into the U.S.
Trump said he could do so but then claimed he is “not the one making this decision” and passed that responsibility onto lawyers for the government.
When challenged by Moran about the legality of forgoing Abrego Garcia’s due process, Trump doubled-down and said he was rightfully deported because he was pictured with “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles. The president appeared to conflate an “MS-13” label with the actual tattoos which consisted of a marijuana leaf, smiley face, cross and skull.
