U.S. President Donald Trump said โhe couldโ speak with Salvadoran authorities to organize the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a longtime Maryland resident mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the U.S. government in March, but says itโs up to Salvadoran leaders to make the call.
Trumpโs comments, made in a television interview with ABC News that aired on Tuesday, came in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling made on April 10 ordering the government to secure the safe return of Abrego Garcia.
The 29-year-old father of three was removed from the U.S. despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to El Salvador due to existing threats to his life in the country. Nonetheless, the Trump administration has repeatedly argued that it is the responsibility of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, to send Abrego Garcia home, despite Bukeleโs claim that he does not have the power to do so.
ABC Newsโ Terry Moran probed the president on his decision not to help Abrego Garcia.
โYou could get him back. Thereโs a phone on this desk,โ Moran said.
โI could,โ Trump replied, adding that he is ill-inclined to do so due to his administrationโs claims that Abgreo Garcia was involved in gang activity.
โIf he [Abrego Garcia] were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that, but heโs not,โ the president told Moran, adding that the decision is not up to him.
The Trump administration says Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, a claim Abrego Garciaโs lawyers vehemently deny while noting that he has never been charged with a crime.
During the interview, Trump also referred to Abrego Garcia as โa tough cookieโ and said he โbeat the hell out of his wife.โ
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Abrego Garciaโs wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, accused him of domestic violence and received a temporary protection order against him in 2021. She told reporters that the situation has not escalated since and that she opted not to go ahead with court proceedings, according to CBS News.
Protesters show support for Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration admits Abrego Garcia was deported accidentally, but has not yet acted on a judgeโs order to facilitate his return to the U.S.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
Similarly, in a Time magazine interview last week, Trump denied that his administration contravened the Supreme Courtโs order.
When asked if he was โdisobeyingโ the 9-0 ruling, the president said, โWell, thatโs not what my people told meโthey didnโt say it was, they said it wasโthe nine to nothing was something entirely different.โ
During further questioning, Trump brushed off responsibility entirely.
โI leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what youโre saying. But I leave that to my lawyers. If they wantโand that would be the Attorney General of the United States and the people that represent the country. I donโt make that decision.โ
Earlier this month, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia and push for his release.
He was able to sit down with his constituent for one hour in a hotel after multiple attempts to meet with him were rejected.
Photos released by Van Hollenโs office offer the only evidence of Abrego Garciaโs well-being since he arrived in El Salvador over a month ago.
Four House Democrats โ Yassamin Ansari, Maxine Dexter, Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia โ were denied a similar visit.
In this handout provided by Sen. Van Hollenโs Office, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) meets with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (L) at an undisclosed location on April 17, 2025, in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Sen. Van Hollen’s Office / Getty Images
Abrego Garcia fled to the U.S. illegally around 2011, the year he turned 16, according to documents filed in his immigration case. He joined his brother, Cesar, now a U.S. citizen, in Maryland and found work in construction.
He gained lawful status in the U.S. in 2019, but was arrested last month and flown to El Salvador on one of multiple high-profile flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members, despite an existing order prohibiting his return to the country due to threats of gang persecution.
Abrego Garciaโs family was being extorted by local gangs in El Salvador when he fled the country almost 15 years ago.
He and his wife have three children, including their five-year-old son, who has autism, is deaf in one ear and is unable to verbally communicate. Theyโre also raising a nine-year-old with autism and a 10-year-old with epilepsy.
His deportation happened as part of a broader government-led initiative clamping down on illegal immigration.
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