President Donald Trump says he “could” bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador if he wanted to. But he insists the 29-year-old Salvadoran, who had been living in Maryland and is married to an American citizen, is a member of the violent MS-13 gang and the kind of person who should not be allowed to live in the United States.
The Republican administration is dug in on its contention that the government should not have to repatriate Abrego Garcia. The Supreme Court has said the administration must work to bring back him back.
For weeks, officials alternated between admitting that Abrego Garcia was deported in error and arguing that the U.S. has no more power in the matter because he is now in El Salvador.
But Trump, told during an ABC News interview Tuesday marking his 100th day in office, that he could use the telephone on his Oval Office desk to call El Salvador's president and ask him to return Abrego Garcia, replied, “I could.”
“And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Trump said.
Here is a look at what judges, federal officials, the president and his lieutenants have said about Abrego Garcia's case.
A claim of MS-13 gang activity
SPRING 2019: Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains Abrego Garcia and, according to court records, asserts that an informant has identified him as “a verified gang member.” An immigration judge denies bond, saying Abrego Garcia is “confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang.”
The official Notice to Appear in immigration court, however, focuses only on the undisputed fact that Abrego Garcia previously crossed the U.S. border without legal status, and says he “was not then admitted or paroled after inspection by an immigration officer." Abrego Garcia and his lawyers deny gang affiliation; he has never been charged with a related crime.
FALL 2019: Another immigration judge grants Abrego Garcia protection from removal to El Salvador, affirming Abrego Garcia's claim that he would be endangered by local gangs. But the judge denies blanket asylum, noting that “withholding from removal, in contrast to asylum, confers only the right not to be deported to a particular country rather than the right to remain in the U.S.” This point will become key to the Trump administration's arguments.
MARCH 12, 2025: According to court documents, ICE agents arrest Abrego Garcia, telling him his “immigration status has changed.” He is later deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison.
MARCH 31: The Trump administration writes in a court filing that “ICE was aware of his protection from removal” to his home country but Abrego Garcia “was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error.”
Comments on Abrego Garcia's whereabouts and status
APRIL 4: Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni says in court: “We concede he should not have been removed to El Salvador.” Pressed for a reason he is being held, Reuveni replies: “I don’t know.”
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis orders the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return. The White House questions her power. “We are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt says.
APRIL 6: Attorney General Pam Bondi confirms on Fox News that Reuveni has been placed on leave because of court statements.
“He shouldn’t have taken the case, he shouldn’t have argued it if that’s what he was going to do,” Bondi says. She compares his exchanges in court to “a defense attorney walking in, conceding something in a criminal matter” about their client.
APRIL 11: The government tells Xinis it doesn't know Abrego Garcia's whereabouts. Drew Ensign, deputy assistant attorney general, says the administration is “actively considering what could be done” in response to a Supreme Court order that it must work to bring him back. But Ensign says he has no personal knowledge of Abrego Garcia's status.
APRIL 12: For the first time, a U.S. government official confirms Abrego Garcia is alive and in the CECOT prison.
“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center,” writes Michael G. Kozak, identifying himself in the document as senior official in the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. “He is alive and secure in that facility.”
Kozak amplifies the administration's contention that the U.S. no longer has jurisdiction over Abrego Garcia: “He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
APRIL 13: Evan Katz, of ICE, files a status update saying Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed to El Salvador.” Still, Katz reintroduces the argument that “Abrego Garcia is no longer eligible for withholding because of his membership in MS-13.”
APRIL 17: Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., meets in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen posts a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker does not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also posts images of the meeting, saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
APRIL 18: Homeland Security officials release details about a Tennessee traffic stop in December 2022. Officials say Abrego Garcia was stopped for speeding and the officer suspected human trafficking, but no citations were issued or arrests made. “The facts reveal he was pulled over with eight individuals in a car on an admitted three-day journey from Texas to Maryland with no luggage," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant homeland security secretary for public affairs, says in the statement. “The facts speak for themselves, and they reek of human trafficking.”
In a statement issued through his lawyers, Abrego Garcia’s wife said: “Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites. ... He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing. Unfortunately, Kilmar is currently imprisoned without contact with the outside world, which means he cannot respond to the claims or defend himself.”
Digging in at the Oval Office
APRIL 14: Multiple Trump officials speak on the matter as Trump and Bukele meet.
Bondi puts the burden on El Salvador. “That's not up to us,” she says, adding, “If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it. Meaning provide a plane.”
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller highlights as fact the allegation that Abrego Garcia is in MS-13. So, Miller reasons, Abrego Garcia “was no longer eligible for any foreign immigration relief in the United States” and was deported under a “valid” order.
Then, according to Miller, “a district court judge tried to tell the administration that they had to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here.”
Bukele declares it preposterous even to ask his intentions. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it,” he says, adding he doesn't “have the power to return him.”
Later, the administration’s daily status update echoes the White House rhetoric: Abrego Garcia is “in the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation,” writes Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security. Abrego Garcia is “no longer eligible” for U.S. court protection given that the administration has declared MS-13 a foreign terrorist organization, the update says.
APRIL 29: Questioned about the case during the ABC News interview, Trump gave conflicting answers.
“I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this,” Trump said, meaning return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
But when told that the “buck stops” in the Oval Office, Trump said, “no, no, no, no. I follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I’d probably keep him right where he is.”
After interviewer Terry Moran said “the Supreme Court says what the law is,” Trump grows testy and insists that, “I was elected to take care of a problem.”
“When we have criminals, murderers, criminals in this country, we have to get ’em out,” Trump said. “And we’re doing it.”
Court calls the Trump administration's defiance “shocking”
APRIL 17: A three-judge federal appellate court panel in a blistering order called the administration’s claim that it cannot do anything to free Abrego Garcia “shocking.”
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III writes that the judges “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos."
“This case presents their unique chance to vindicate that value and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time,” he wrote.
AT THE WHITE HOUSE: That day, asked by reporters whether he believed Abrego Garcia was entitled to due process, Trump said: “I have to refer, again, to the lawyers.”
He adds: “I had heard that there were a lot of things about a certain gentleman — perhaps it was that gentleman — that would make that case be a case that’s easily winnable on appeal. So we’ll just have to see.”
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
