El Salvador president says he won't return man recently deported | Border Watch with Jonathan Mejia

Border watchers,

It’s been a busy week for immigration news. Depending on what side you’re on you may see this as a victory or a setback. Remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia? I wrote about his case in last week’s newsletter. He is the Salvadoran man that has been living in Maryland and his deportation made national headlines.

Administrative error but Bukele will not return Kilmar

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele visited the White House this week and met with President Donald Trump and other officials. Bukele said he won’t return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), returns to the U.S.

Over the weekend, the Justice Department said in court filings that they're willing to take "all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles" to facilitate his return.

"How can I return him to the United States?" Bukele asked the press. "I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course, I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous."

PREVIOUSLY ON BORDER WATCH: Border Watch: 2 SCOTUS immigration decisions & migrants told to self-deport

Bukele referred to Abrego Garcia as a "terrorist," and said "I don't have the power to return him to the United States." 

U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi, speaking before Bukele, said it's "up to El Salvador if they want to return him." Bondi said that "first and foremost, he was illegally in our country." 

The Trump administration argued that Abrego Garcia’s protection from deportation was invalid due to alleged MS-13 ties. However, officials never asked a judge to revoke that legal protection. That’s why the Supreme Court said the deportation was "illegal".

Let’s remember that SCOTUS ruled that a lower court order properly required the government to "facilitate" his release from El Salvador’s custody. SCOTUS said last Thursday the Trump administration must facilitate Kilmar’s release but ordered additional proceedings before a federal district court.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the Justice Department to provide daily updates on their efforts to return Abrego Garcia. In Monday's filing, the Justice Department noted Bukele's Oval Office comments. The filing also said that "DHS does not have the authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation." 

In a statement after the meeting, Abrego Garcia's wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said "the Trump and Bukele administrations continue to play political games with his life."  

Trump administration can’t revoke parole

Remember when I wrote about the parole program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV)? It was when we learned that over one million immigrants were allowed into the country under the Biden administration. That newsletter was released in December 2024.

Well, along with the revoking the legal status of those who entered the country legally through the CBP One App, the Trump administration also included those who entered with the CHNV parole.

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However, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani ruled Monday that the Trump administration can't immediately revoke the deportation protections and work permits of hundreds of thousands of migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela (CHNV) who entered the U.S. legally under a Biden-era program. The administration had warned those affected by its announcement that they would need to self deport by April 24 or face arrest and deportation by federal immigration agents.

Talwani said those mass parole terminations could not happen without each case being reviewed.

The "early termination, without any case-by-case justification, of legal status for noncitizens who have complied with DHS programs and entered the country lawfully undermines the rule of law," wrote Talwani, who sits on the federal district court in Boston.