El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, where
he stated would not send the Maryland man the U.S. mistakenly deported to El Salvador back to the United States. Trump also discussed with Bukele  further cooperation on security and migration, El Salvador’s embrace of Bitcoin, and tariffs.

During their meeting at the Oval Office, Trump praised Bukele for opening his country’s prison system to house alleged gang members and detainees Trump wants to deport, and said he would send as many people living in the U.S. illegally to El Salvador as possible.

The Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, including a Maryland resident, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that they acknowledged was deported by mistake. However, Pres. Bukele said he did not have the power to return Garcia to the United States.

Bukele, who agreed with the Trump administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. said: “How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”  When asked if he’d be released in his own country, Bukele said, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.” Garcia has never been charged criminally in the U.S. or El Salvador, according to court filings.

The Justice Department acknowledged that Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because of an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring him from being sent there, with the Supreme Court calling his removal illegal and directed the administration to “facilitate” his return while being respectful of the president’s authority.

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