WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele made clear during a high-profile White House meeting with President Donald Trump that his government will not return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order.

The man at the center of the legal battle, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen and longtime U.S. resident, was deported in March in what the Trump administration later admitted was an “administrative error,” according to court documents. Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador in 2006 to escape gang persecution and had lived in the United States for more than a decade as a sheet metal worker and father. A federal immigration judge had issued a court order blocking his deportation, citing those dangers.

Still, Abrego Garcia was placed aboard a deportation flight alongside dozens of others accused by the Trump administration of gang ties—claims that federal courts say remain unsubstantiated. He now sits in El Salvador’s notoriously harsh maximum-security prison known as CECOT (Terrorism Confinement Center), where suspected MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members are held.

During Monday’s Oval Office meeting, Bukele dismissed the idea of returning Abrego Garcia. “How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said. “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country.”

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have pushed back strongly against accusations of gang involvement, pointing out that he has never lived in New York, where the MS-13 cell he is accused of belonging to is based. A U.S. district judge previously ruled the administration had not provided evidence to support its claims.

The Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, ensuring he is treated as if he had never been deported. However, the ruling did not explicitly compel the administration to effectuate his return—a key legal distinction that administration officials have used to argue that the final decision rests with El Salvador.

“He has no lawful right to be here,” said Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser. “It’s up to El Salvador and the people of El Salvador what the fate of their citizens is. Administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, defended the broader deportation policy, which has sent over 200 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men to CECOT since March. Rubio said El Salvador has become a “critical partner” in detaining suspected gang members, while Noem characterized the deportations as targeting the “worst of the worst.”

Bukele, who has overseen the arrest of more than 84,000 people under his aggressive anti-gang crackdown, has aligned closely with Trump’s immigration priorities. His cooperation includes accepting deportees and building CECOT to house them. According to The Washington Post, the U.S. has agreed to pay El Salvador about $6 million to imprison the detainees for one year.

Still, legal and diplomatic tensions continue to mount. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has requested a direct meeting with Bukele and vowed to travel to El Salvador if Abrego Garcia is not returned soon. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) criticized the Trump administration for “failing to comply with court orders to uphold the rule of law.”

Asked Sunday whether his administration is taking steps to comply with the court’s order, Trump said he respects the Supreme Court but has no immediate plans to intervene. Government lawyers have provided limited updates, merely stating that Abrego Garcia is “alive and secure” under El Salvador’s sovereign custody.

The legal uncertainty surrounding Abrego Garcia’s case and the broader deportation policy illustrates the complicated web of international law, immigration enforcement, and executive authority. As the administration leans heavily on allies like El Salvador, questions remain over the limits of U.S. power when it comes to correcting its errors.