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"Of Course I Won't Return Him": Trump & Bukele Openly Defy SCOTUS on Wrongful Deportation

Sitting beside Trump, El Salvador's Bukele laughed off returning a man the US admits it illegally deported to his notorious prison. Trump praised the arrangement and mused about sending US citizens there too.

April 14, 2025

Let's set the scene: It's Monday, April 14th, 2025, in the Oval Office. President Donald Trump is hosting President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. Bukele is the strongman leader famous for his brutal crackdown on gangs, filling notorious mega-prisons, and facing accusations of widespread human rights abuses. He's also become a key partner in Trump's mass deportation strategy, thanks to a controversial deal where the US pays El Salvador millions ($6M reported) to imprison deportees accused by the US of gang ties – evidence for which, court papers show, is often flimsy at best.

Central to this burgeoning alliance is the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and father of three. The US government admits it illegally deported him to El Salvador last month due to an "administrative error," directly violating a 2019 immigration judge's order barring his removal precisely because he might face violence or torture there. The Supreme Court itself just last week called the removal illegal and ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" his return. (You can read our earlier story on him here - https://www.dailydoseof.wtf/p/asylum-hearing-nope-el-salvador-mega-prison-instead )

So, what happens when Bukele is asked by reporters in the Oval Office today if he'll help return Mr. Abrego Garcia, the man illegally sent to his country and locked in a prison critics call a human rights black hole?

According to the New York Times and NBC News, Bukele essentially scoffed. "How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?" he reportedly said. "Of course I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous." He then added, regarding potentially releasing Garcia within El Salvador, “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.” (It's crucial to note, as court filings confirm, Garcia has never been charged criminally in the US or El Salvador, and the MS-13 affiliation claim stemmed from "a singular unsubstantiated allegation" involving a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, according to the US judge who initially blocked his deportation).

And President Trump's reaction to this blatant defiance of a US Supreme Court directive by a foreign leader regarding a man his own Justice Department admits was wrongly deported? He reportedly smiled in approval. He then turned to the reporters and sneered, "They'd love to have a criminal released into our country. These are sick people."

Let that sink in. The President of the United States, sitting next to a foreign leader who is refusing to cooperate in rectifying an admitted illegal deportation ordered rectified by the US Supreme Court, sides with the foreign leader and calls reporters "sick" for even asking about it. Top administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi chimed in, arguing that courts can't dictate foreign policy and it's entirely up to El Salvador if they want to return Garcia – the US would merely "provide a plane."

This open contempt for the judicial system was further amplified by White House advisor Stephen Miller, who flatly contradicted the Justice Department's repeated court filings, telling Fox News that Garcia was "sent to the right place" and wasn't mistakenly deported at all. He even dismissed the DOJ lawyer who acknowledged the error as a "saboteur, a Democrat" (despite the US Solicitor General also calling it an error before the Supreme Court).

But the WTF factor didn't stop there. Trump went on to praise Bukele's "fantastic job" handling prisoners "for less money" under their deal. Then, according to CNN, he mused openly about expanding this arrangement... to include deporting US citizens. "If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem," Trump said, adding that AG Bondi is studying the laws "right now." He elaborated, "If they’re criminals... Yeah, yeah that includes them... We have bad ones too... I’m talking about violent people... Really bad people." The legality of deporting US citizens is, of course, highly questionable, to say the least.

Human rights groups are aghast, stating the US should be holding Bukele accountable for violations, not "cozying up to and copying Bukele’s authoritarian playbook" by rounding people up, denying due process, and disappearing them into abusive prisons.

The question then becomes: Is Mr. Abrego Garcia even still alive? Amidst the justifiable fear given the prison conditions, a government court filing on Saturday did state he "is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility." While that offers a sliver of official assurance for now, the administration's open defiance of court orders to facilitate his return, coupled with Bukele's flat refusal and dismissal of him as a "terrorist," leaves his fate terrifyingly uncertain.

This entire episode – the open defiance of the Supreme Court, the outsourcing of detention to potentially abusive facilities for cash, the casual dismissal of wrongful deportation, and the chilling suggestion of deporting US citizens – represents a staggering confluence of cruelty, authoritarianism, and contempt for the rule of law, playing out right in the Oval Office. It's a multi-car pile-up of WTF moments.

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