Trump met with Bukele at the White House on Monday to discuss strengthened collaboration between the two countries on matters related to immigration and security.
US President Donald Trump met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Monday. During a meeting which focused on strengthening the ties between the two American nations, the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was discussed as El Salvador refused to deport the immigrant back to the US.
Trump met with Bukele at the White House on Monday to discuss strengthened collaboration between the two countries on matters related to immigration and security.
As per reports, Trump thanked his El Salvadorian counterpart for agreeing to expulsion of migrants accused of terrorism and the use of the prison in El Salvador for their detention.
However, during the discussion on the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, El Salvador has refused to give send Garcia back to the US.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia lived in the US for 14 years. He shifted to the US during the Obama Administration and since then has worked in construction.
The 29-year-old lives in Maryland and is married with three children with disabilities.
Amid the mass deportation drive under the second Trump administration, Garcia was deported to El Salvador based on a 2019 accusation that he was part of the MS-13 gang.
Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, is an international criminal gang and a US-designated terrorist organisation.
In 2019, a judge shielded Garcia from forced deportation to El Salvador, citing that the 29-year-old may be subject to persecution from local gangs.
However, in 2025, Garcia was deported to El Salvador anyway, which the US government has described as an "administrative error." Despite this, the US government claims Garcia came to the country illegally and has stayed there as an illegal immigrant.
Following this, Garcia filed a lawsuit against federal officials such as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons, citing that he was deprived of due process.
In response, the US Supreme Court stated that government officials should work towards his return to US soil.
El Salvador has refused to send Garcia back, arguing that he is a "terrorist" and his release would be dangerous.
"I'm not going to release him. We don't like releasing terrorists in our country," the Salvadoran president stated.
We have just become the safest country on the continent. We cannot release criminals; that would make us the murder capital of the world again," the president declared further.
Despite the Supreme Court order, Trump administration officials have stated that the US has no say in his future, considering Garcia is a native from EL Salvador and it is now upto the Central American nation.