State Secretary Marco Rubio has been associated with President El Salvador Nayib Bikele about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man was mistakenly deported last month to Cecot Mega-Prison from El Salvador, various sources who were familiar with their contacts told ABC News.
The details of their contacts are not clear immediately.
ABC News’ Karen Travers asked Rubio’s State Secretary about Abrego Garcia at a Wednesday cabinet meeting in Washington, and he would not say whether there was a form of contact.
“I will never tell you that,” Rubio said. “And you know who else? I will never tell judges, because our foreign policy behavior belongs to the President of the United States and the executive branch, not a judge.”
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said, “We do not comment on private diplomatic negotiations reports, regardless of whether they are real or not.”
The New York Times first reported contact between the US and El Salvador related to Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia, a native of Salvador who has lived with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador-although the 2019 court orders prohibit deportation to the country for fear of persecution-after Trump’s government claimed that he was a member of the MS-13 crime gang.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a salvador migrant in this handout drawn by Reuters on April 9, 2025.
Abrego Garcia’s family via Reuters
Federal judges who oversee this case on Wednesday rejected the motion of the Trump government to postpone further findings in this case.
The order appeared a week after the judge, US District judge Paula Xinis, stopped thinking for seven days after Trump’s administration asked him to stay overnight.
A lawyer for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told ABC News that they agreed with a seven-day break “with good faith.”
“Today is the seventh day of the seven original periods,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said on Wednesday. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia did not return to the United States, and for me it seems that the government hasn’t used that week wisely.”
The lawyer said his team would find out “which human being from the US government” hindered the return of Abrego Garcia.
Judge Xinis earlier this month slammed the administration for not acting on the deportation of Garcia Abrego and ordered government officials to testify under oaths through accelerated discoveries.
Following his orders on Wednesday, Judge Xinis set a new deadline for the government to respond to requests.
On May 5, the government had to answer and respond to all extraordinary requests and complete their privilege prayers that were consistent with the previous court orders, Xini decided.
Deposition of four government witnesses who according to the Plaintiff had knowledge of the situation in this case must be completed on May 9, he ordered.
Lawyer Abrego Garcia can ask for a court permit to carry out up to two additional depositions, said Judge Xinis.
The plaintiff has a deadline for May 12 to renew their motion for assistance, which previously asked the court to order the government to obey orders to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the US, and to order the government to show the reasons why they were not insulted for failing to comply with previous court orders.
The government will have a period until May 14 to respond to the motion, Xinis said.
Trump’s administration, when recognizing that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, said that the alleged affiliation of MS-13 made him not eligible to return to the United States. His wife and lawyer denied that he was a member of the MS-13.
In 2019, an immigration judge decided that Abrego Garcia could be released from the US based on his gang affiliate accusations made by local police in Maryland. But Abrego Garcia was then given the transfer of the transfer to his home country.
Judge Xinis earlier this month decided that the Trump government had to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, and the Supreme Court of the US in a round voice confirmed the decision, “with regard to the respect that is owed to the executive branch in the implementation of foreign affairs.”