U.S. President Donald Trump said “he could” speak with Salvadoran authorities to organize the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a longtime Maryland resident mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the U.S. government in March, but says it’s up to Salvadoran leaders to make the call.
Trump’s comments, made in a television interview with ABC News that aired on Tuesday, came in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling made on April 10 ordering the government to secure the safe return of Abrego Garcia.
El Salvador blocks US senator from visiting wrongly deported Salvadoran man
The 29-year-old father of three was removed from the U.S. despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to El Salvador due to existing threats to his life in the country. Nonetheless, the Trump administration has repeatedly argued that it is the responsibility of the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, to send Abrego Garcia home, despite Bukele’s claim that he does not have the power to do so.
ABC News’ Terry Moran probed the president on his decision not to help Abrego Garcia.
“You could get him back. There’s a phone on this desk,” Moran said.
“I could,” Trump replied, adding that he is ill-inclined to do so due to his administration’s claims that Abgreo Garcia was involved in gang activity.
“If he [Abrego Garcia] were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that, but he’s not,” the president told Moran, adding that the decision is not up to him.
The Trump administration says Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, a claim Abrego Garcia’s lawyers vehemently deny while noting that he has never been charged with a crime.
During the interview, Trump also referred to Abrego Garcia as “a tough cookie” and said he “beat the hell out of his wife.”
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, accused him of domestic violence and received a temporary protection order against him in 2021. She told reporters that the situation has not escalated since and that she opted not to go ahead with court proceedings, according to CBS News.
Protesters show support for Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration admits Abrego Garcia was deported accidentally, but has not yet acted on a judge’s order to facilitate his return to the U.S.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
Similarly, in a Time magazine interview last week, Trump denied that his administration contravened the Supreme Court’s order.
When asked if he was “disobeying” the 9-0 ruling, the president said, “Well, that’s not what my people told me—they didn’t say it was, they said it was—the nine to nothing was something entirely different.”
During further questioning, Trump brushed off responsibility entirely.
“I leave that to my lawyers. I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you’re saying. But I leave that to my lawyers. If they want—and that would be the Attorney General of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don’t make that decision.”
Earlier this month, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia and push for his release.
He was able to sit down with his constituent for one hour in a hotel after multiple attempts to meet with him were rejected.
Photos released by Van Hollen’s office offer the only evidence of Abrego Garcia’s well-being since he arrived in El Salvador over a month ago.
Four House Democrats — Yassamin Ansari, Maxine Dexter, Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia — were denied a similar visit.
In this handout provided by Sen. Van Hollen’s Office, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) meets with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (L) at an undisclosed location on April 17, 2025, in San Salvador, El Salvador.
Sen. Van Hollen's Office / Getty Images
Abrego Garcia fled to the U.S. illegally around 2011, the year he turned 16, according to documents filed in his immigration case. He joined his brother, Cesar, now a U.S. citizen, in Maryland and found work in construction.
He gained lawful status in the U.S. in 2019, but was arrested last month and flown to El Salvador on one of multiple high-profile flights carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members, despite an existing order prohibiting his return to the country due to threats of gang persecution.
Abrego Garcia’s family was being extorted by local gangs in El Salvador when he fled the country almost 15 years ago.
U.S. Senator heads to El Salvador to push for return of mistakenly deported man
He and his wife have three children, including their five-year-old son, who has autism, is deaf in one ear and is unable to verbally communicate. They’re also raising a nine-year-old with autism and a 10-year-old with epilepsy.
His deportation happened as part of a broader government-led initiative clamping down on illegal immigration.