Kilmar Abrego Garcia: The US wants him back, but El Salvador refuses to return

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has made it clear that he has no plans to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man wrongly deported from the United States, even after a US court ordered his return.

Bukele said he does not have the authority to send Abrego Garcia back.

"The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Bukele said, repeating claims by the Trump administration that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang.

In an Oval Office meeting, Trump commended Bukele for providing asylum for suspected gang members and US-deported migrants in El Salvador. Trump also pledged US assistance to construct additional prisons in the Central American nation.

The Trump administration deported him there last month, later describing the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.

WHO IS ABREGO GARCIA?

Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrived in the US illegally in 2011 at the age of 16 and moved to Maryland to be with his brother. He started working in construction and eventually started a family with Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who is a US citizen.

According to news agency Associated Press, Abrego Garcia was residing with Vasquez Sura and her two children by 2018. They were raising three children, two of whom have autism and one of whom has epilepsy.

In 2019, he was arrested outside a Home Depot. Although he insisted he had no gang ties, he was detained by ICE on allegations from an informant who accused him of being affiliated with MS-13 in New York State, which he had never resided in.

In detention, Abrego Garcia applied for asylum and later got married to Vasquez Sura. His request for asylum was denied but was told by a judge he couldn't be deported because of genuine fear of violence by gangs in El Salvador. ICE released him.

After his release, he reported to ICE every year and was issued a work permit. He became a union sheet metal apprentice and continued to support his family.

In 2020, when the Trump administration designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organisation, Abrego Garcia was again arrested outside an Ikea. Agents again cited gang affiliations, citing circumstantial information like family outings and a photo of him playing basketball.

LEGAL BATTLE OVER ABREGO GARCIA

A federal judge previously ruled that the government must return Abrego Garcia. But the Trump administration pushed back, stating that the judge might not have authority to enforce that.

Although the US Supreme Court upheld the judge's order, it stated that the term "effectuate" was unclear and might exceed her authority.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller came to the defence, saying, "His status was he's an illegal alien who's been ordered deported, which means he can be indefinitely detained and removed to any other country in the world."