The day after the Federal Court sought details about the status of a Maryland man who was deported because it was mistaken to El Salvador, the Department of Foreign Affairs told the judge that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “live and safe” but still not in American land.
“This is my understanding based on official reporting from our embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being detained at the Center for Terrorism in El Salvador,” said Michael Kozak, a senior bureau of official for the Department of Foreign Affairs, in the declaration submitted on Saturday minutes after the 5 pm the deadline set by the judge.
“He lives and is safe in the facility,” Kozak added. “He was detained based on sovereignty, El Salvador’s domestic authority.”
The Supreme Court has ordered the US government to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia to America.
The photo was not dated provided by Casa, an immigrant advocacy organization, in April 2025, showed Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
House through AP
Then on Saturday night, President Donald Trump posted about social truth that claimed President El Salvador Nayib Bikele “Anggun had received the prison of some of the most cruel alien enemies in the world and, in particular, the United States.”
“These barbarians are now in El Salvador’s custody, a proud and sovereign country, and their future depends on President B and his government,” he added.
Trump did not directly mention Abrego Garcia or his case at the post. He is scheduled to meet with Bukele at the White House on Monday.
On Friday, Trump considered the Supreme Court’s order when talking to reporters, claiming he was inexperienced in this case. However, he reiterated his respect for the Supreme Court, who had strengthened a lower court decision that the US government had to help restore Abrego Garcia to the US
“If the Supreme Court says bring someone back, I will do that. I respect the Supreme Court,” he said.
Shortly before the government submitted its first status report to the court, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia submitted a motion for additional assistance and quoted Trump’s comments.
“Yesterday, President Trump confirmed that the United States had the power to facilitate the release of Abrego Garcia from prison and returning to the United States,” wrote a lawyer for Abrego Garcia.
In the submission, lawyers for men Maryland asked for three types of additional assistance, including ordering the government to show why they should not be insulted “because of their failure to comply with previous court orders.”
“The president’s recognition of the power of the United States to return Abrego Garcia, the Department of Justice and other government institutions continues to reject this court and the Supreme Court,” they added.
President Donald Trump Air Force One Council before departing from the Joint Andrews Base in Maryland, on April 11, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
The lawyer also asked the judge to order the government to provide air transportation to Abrego Garcia to return to Maryland and give him parole.
In a written order this week, Judge Paula Xinis from the US District Court for the Maryland District had asked for a daily status report to answer what steps, if any, Trump’s administration had taken to facilitate the direct return of Abrego Garcia to the US and what additional steps would be taken by the government, and when, to facilitate the return.
While the Kozak swear declaration answered one of the questions requested by Xini, the response did not provide further details about the return of Abrego Garcia.
Abrego Garcia, despite the 2019 court order which prohibited his deportation to El Salvador, where his lawyer argued that he escaped political violence in 2011, sent to the famous Mega-Prison Cecot in the country, following what the government said as “administrative errors,” according to immigration officials and immigration customs.
A police officer guarded the cell at the Terrorism Cage Center (Cecot) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, April 4, 2025.
Jose Cabezas/Reuters
Trump’s government has claimed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, who was denied by his lawyer and his wife, and argued in submitting the law that because Abrego Garcia was no longer in US detention, the court could not order him to be returned to the US or ordered El Salvador to return it.
Xini ordered the government to help return Abrego Garcia to the US, which was then upheld the Supreme Court on Thursday.
“The order correctly requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release from detention in El Salvador and to ensure that the case is handled as it should be if it is not sent incorrectly to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ordered not signed stated.