President Donald Trump clarified that he did not authorize the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had been deported in March under contested circumstances.
“That wasn’t my decision,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News. “The Department of Justice decided to do it that way.”
Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States on Friday to stand trial on federal human trafficking charges in Tennessee, following the release of a formal indictment earlier this week. His deportation months ago, which the Trump administration later acknowledged was a mistake, was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. The court directed the government to “facilitate” his return, igniting fierce legal and political debate nationwide over the administration’s broader deportation strategy.
“It should be a very easy case” for federal prosecutors, the president told NBC News. Trump also mentioned that he had not spoken with President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador regarding the matter.
Even after the Supreme Court issued its directive, Trump administration officials were reluctant to comply, citing the fact that Abrego Garcia remained under the jurisdiction of Salvadoran authorities.
“There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told lawmakers last month.
The administration repeatedly portrayed Abrego Garcia as a dangerous gang member, a claim rejected outright by both his legal team and family members. A federal judge further dismissed the characterization as “a vague, uncorroborated allegation.”
While officials referred to his removal from the U.S. as “an administrative error,” they failed to act swiftly on the Supreme Court’s order to bring him back.
The situation triggered a wave of criticism. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) even traveled to El Salvador, where he met with Abrego Garcia and called for his return. Republicans fired back, accusing Van Hollen and other Democrats of siding with a potentially dangerous individual.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team has asked the public to approach the charges with skepticism.
“They’ll stop at nothing at all — even some of the most preposterous charges imaginable — just to avoid admitting that they made a mistake, which is what everyone knows happened,” Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of his attorneys, told reporters Friday. “He’s not going to be convicted of these crimes,” the lawyer added. “There’s no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy.”
{Matzav.com}