El Salvador will not return Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the US government deported to his home country where he is being held in a mega-prison.
President Nayib Bukele made the comments during a meeting on Monday at the White House with Donald Trump, with whom he shares a strong relationship.
The US Supreme Court ruled last week that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of Mr Ábrego García, who was living in Maryland with his family and was granted protection from deportation by a court in 2019.
The Trump administration argues it cannot bring him home, and Attorney General Pam Bondi said it is “up to El Salvador if they want to return him”.
Trump praised Bukele for a new partnership under which the US can deport people it alleges are gang members to the Central American nation. Mr Ábrego García, whose lawyer said he is not a gang member, was among 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans the Trump administration deported to El Salvador’s Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot).
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said another 10 alleged gang members were sent there, despite legal challenges over those it already deported. The US considers them suspected members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs, which are designated as “foreign terrorist organisations” by Trump.
In response to an earlier ruling by the US Supreme Court that the administration should facilitate the release of Mr Ábrego García, lawyers wrote on Sunday that the issue was a matter of foreign policy – and outside the control of the courts.
Trump told reporters last week that if the Supreme Court said “bring somebody back, I would do that”.
The justice department cited Bukele’s comments that Mr Ábrego García would not be returned to the US as an update in their latest court filing.
ReutersMr Ábrego García’s wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen, said the “Trump and Bukele administrations continue to play political games with his life”.
“My heart is heavy, but I hold on to hope and the strength of those around me. For our children, our family, and all immigrants fighting for loved ones – Kilmar, we will not stop fighting for you,” she said in a statement.
The US government has conceded Mr Ábrego García was deported because of an “administrative error”, though it also says he is a member of the MS-13 gang – something his lawyer denies.
Officials were ordered to provide daily updates on steps being taken to bring Mr Ábrego García back to the US.
Relations between Trump and Bukele have flourished since the US president’s return to the White House in January, after Bukele agreed to take US deportees, which has helped Trump in his pledge to enact mass deportations.
Writing on X, Rubio said the alliance was an “example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere”.
Ahead of Bukele’s trip to Washington, Trump praised his counterpart, who has positioned himself as a tough-on-crime strongman.
Trump said Bukele was doing a “fantastic job” at imprisoning some “very bad people… that should never have been allowed into our country”.
Trump’s team has so far sent to El Salvador more than 200 migrants, who were accused of being gang members. Many of them were removed from the country using a law that dates back to 1798.
BBC Mundo was allowed to go inside Cecot, El Salvador’s maximum security prison, in 2024.
It is the symbol of the aggressive and controversial “war on gangs” waged by President Bukele since 2022.
Spanning 116 hectares, the jail was built in less than a year and has the capacity to hold 40,000 inmates, according to the government. It has been widely criticised for alleged human rights abuses and lack of legal protections for prisoners.
The cells have no windows or ventilation, and prisoners sleep on metal bunks without mattresses or sheets. Each cell can hold more than 150 prisoners and there are only two toilets with no privacy whatsoever.
They have limited access to water, and are only allowed to go out to exercise for 30 minutes a day.
Family members of some previous deportees to the prison have denied they have gang ties.
One woman in Venezuela, Myrelis Casique López, recently told BBC Mundo she became certain her son was among the detainees when she saw a photo of him being taken to Cecot.
She suggested he was targeted by American authorities due to his tattoos.
Announcing the removal of 10 more “criminals” in a social media post on Sunday, Rubio did not say whether the latest group was sent to Cecot specifically.
The administration previously published images of deportees arriving at the facility – and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem paid a visit last month.
Asked whether he had concerns over allegations of human rights abuses at Cecot, Trump told reporters: “I don’t see it.”
Bukele stands to gain both money and political capital from accepting US deportees to Cecot.
According to US government documents obtained by the Associated Press, El Salvador is receiving $20,000 (£15,100) per deportee per year.
That adds up to about $6m for the most recent group. Bukele says these payments, along with prison labour programmes, will help make the prison system financially self-sufficient.
By aligning closely with Trump, Bukele gains favour in Washington and reduces scrutiny of his internal policies.
His government has arrested more than 80,000 people under a state of emergency that has lasted three years, with frequent reports of detentions without due process.
Critics say the US is now less likely to challenge democratic setbacks or rights abuses in El Salvador.
