Trump says he ‘could’ bring Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador, but won’t
President Donald Trump on Tuesday acknowledged that he could secure the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia President Donald Trump on Tuesday acknowledged that he could secure the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia CNN President Donald Trump on Tuesday acknowledged that he could secure the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month but refuses to do so The comments appear to contradict previous remarks made by him and his top aides who say the US does not have the ability to return Abrego Garcia because he is in the custody of a foreign executive despite the Supreme Court s ruling that the Trump administration must facilitate his return You could get him back There s a phone on this desk ABC News Terry Moran reported to Trump during an particular interview that aired Tuesday night I could Trump replied Pointing to the phone Moran explained You could pick it up and with all the power of the presidency you could call up the President of El Salvador and say Send him back And if he were the gentleman that you say he is I would do that the president added But he is not I m not the one making this decision Trump revealed adding that he says leadership lawyers do not want to help bring Abrego Garcia back to the US The administration admitted in court last month that Abrego Garcia a Salvadoran migrant was deported because of an administrative error ignoring a judge s ruling that he couldn t be sent back to his native El Salvador where his life could be in danger US authorities however have since refused to return Abrego Garcia to the US arguing they lack power to force El Salvador to do so That s up to El Salvador if they want to return him That s not up to us Attorney General Pam Bondi notified reporters earlier in April Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele noted in a latest meeting with Trump that his administration isn t very fond of releasing terrorists detained in his country and vowed to keep Abrego Garcia in prison Abrego Garcia entered the US illegally sometime around but an immigration judge in withheld his removal citing concerns for his safety That meant he could not be deported to El Salvador but could be deported to another country A gang in his native country the immigration judge uncovered had been targeting him and threatening him with death because of his family s pupusa business US officers detained the father of three on March and deported him after alleging that he was authenticated to be a member of MS- by a reliable source The Trump administration has designated the MS- gang as a foreign terrorist organization Abrego Garcia and his wife however dispute the claim and at least one federal judge has voiced skepticism toward it This is a MS- gang member Trump again commented in the ABC interview citing Abrego Garcia s tattooed hands which contain skulls covering their eyes ears and mouth which a police document described as indicative of the Hispanic gang way of life He reported he wasn t a member of a gang And then they looked on his knuckles he had MS- Trump disclosed claiming Abrego Garcia s knuckles displayed the name of the gang Moran responded that the Maryland man had certain tattoos that are interpreted that way and that the numbers and letters were photoshopped Trump repeatedly argued however in response that a photo that was posted on Truth Social of Abrego Garcia s knuckles was not photoshopped while criticizing the ABC News journalist telling Moran at one point No no He had MS as clear as you can be not interpreted The online photo displayed Abrego Garcia s tattooed knuckles with the letters and numbers of the gang above each tattoo and was altered to show the correlation of each tattoo to what the Trump administration says relates him to the name of the gang Experts have cast doubt over whether Abrego Garcia s tattoos prove gang ties The judge overseeing Abrego Garcia s development stated last Tuesday that the Trump administration was not acting in good faith and accused executives of intentional noncompliance with their obligation to produce information This story has been updated to including additional developments and information from Trump s interview CNN s Devan Cole and Shania Shelton contributed to this description The-CNN-Wire Cable News Grid Inc a Warner Bros Discovery Company All rights reserved Source
