Trump administration says it lacks authority to get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, April 14, 2025.

The Trump administration told a federal judge on Monday that it does not have the authority to compel El Salvador to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States from a notorious prison despite a court order and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying that should happen.

That claim in a court filing came hours after El Salvador President Nayib Bukele told reporters at the White House that he would not voluntarily return Abrego Garcia.

The Maryland resident was forcibly deported to his native country in March due to what the Trump administration has conceded was an administrative error.

Joseph Mazzara, acting General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, in the new filing said, "DHS has established processes for taking steps to remove domestic obstacles that would otherwise prevent an alien from lawfully entering the United States."

"DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation," Mazzara said in the filing in U.S. District Court in Maryland.

Mazzara, in the same filing to Judge Paula Xinis, noted Bukele's statements about Abrego Garcia, which were made during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

"The question is preposterous," Bukele said when he was asked about sending Abrego Garcia back from the prison.

"How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Bukele said. "I don't have the power to return him to the United States."

Top Trump administration officials at the same meeting suggested they would not comply with Xinis' demand that officials facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, despite the district and Supreme Court orders.

The Trump administration claims the married father of three is a gang member, pointing to a 2019 statement by a U.S. immigration judge.