President Trump and El Salvador president Nayib Bukele Monday refused to return a Maryland immigrant mistakenly deported to the Central American nation that is playing an increasingly key role in the White House’s mass deportation plan.
Bukele, 43, who has branded himself as “the coolest dictator,” called deportee Kilmar Abrego Garcia a “terrorist” and said it would be “preposterous” to return him to the U.S.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” Bukele said. “We’re not really fond of releasing terrorists.”
“They’re great facilities… they do a great job,” said Trump, brushing off a question about the Supreme Court’s order to “facilitate” Garcia’s return to the U.S.
Trump even said he wants to come up with a legal framework to send American criminals to El Salvador’s notorious maximum security gang prison.
“I’d like to include them on the list to get them out of the country,” Trump said.
Alex Peña/Getty Images
Prisoners look out of their cell at the CECOT prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador on April 4. (Photo by Alex Peña/Getty Images)
The two leaders greeted each other warmly ahead of a planned bilateral meeting and lunch.
Trump hailed Bukele as a “fantastic” leader and said he hopes to expand cooperation with the strongman as a key ally in Latin America amid his enthusiastic embrace of the mass deportation effort.
In recent weeks, El Salvador has accepted more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants deported from the U.S, whom the Trump administration accuses of gang activity without providing evidence or even releasing their names.
Bukele said one of the Venezuelan deportees admitted to shooting a police officer in the leg, although he gave no details.
The Venezuelans are being held at the maximum-security gang prison with little prospect of any due process or chance to contest their imprisonment.
El Salvador is also holding Garcia, a Salvadoran national who the administration admits was wrongly deported. The White House has resisted court orders to “facilitate” his return to the U.S.
Bukele, who won a second term by a landslide after his popular anti-crime crackdown, struck a deal under which the U.S. will pay about $6 million for El Salvador to imprison the Venezuelan immigrants for a year.
The Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump to use the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law, to deport the immigrants. The justices did insist that the immigrants get a court hearing before being removed from the U.S.
Over the weekend, 10 more people whom the administration claims are members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs were sent in El Salvador, Secretary of State Rubio said Sunday.
Trump insisted he wouldn’t oust American convicts to El Salvador without legal authority.
It is unclear how U.S. citizens could be legally taken outside the country for any reason, especially to serve prison sentences.
