Salvadoran President Says He Won’t Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said Monday that he will not return a Salvadoran man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador from the United States, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order instructing the U.S. government to facilitate the man’s return.
“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?” Bukele said during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the White House. “Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was among the roughly 200 individuals deported to El Salvador in March as part of a deal in which Bukele agreed to detain alleged gang members in exchange for a hefty sum. But Abrego Garcia is not a gang member, his lawyer says; he lived in the U.S. for more than 14 years, is married to a U.S. citizen, and is the father of three children. He has no criminal convictions in either the U.S. or El Salvador.
The Trump administration claimed he was a gang member, citing a 2019 finding by an immigration judge that he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang. But U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis found that “the ‘evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York—a place he has never lived.” The court granted him protection from removal to El Salvador, citing credible fear of persecution by gangs there. Nevertheless, he was arrested on March 12 by immigration authorities in Maryland and deported shortly after.
In an April 4 ruling, Xinis ordered the U.S. government to “facilitate and effectuate the return” of Abrego Garcia by April 7. Last week, the Supreme Court upheld that order, labeling the deportation “illegal” and requiring daily updates on efforts to return him.
Article from Reason.com
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