Marco Rubio and Salvadoran president have been in touch about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, sources say

Source: CNN Politics

Updated 7:17 PM EDT, Wed April 30, 2025


CNN — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have been directly in touch about the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the US mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison, according to multiple sources familiar with the previously undisclosed discussions.

A US official also told CNN the Trump administration has been working closely with El Salvador and asked for Abrego Garcia’s return but insisted that Bukele has made clear that he’s not returning him to the US, citing an Oval Office meeting between Bukele and President Donald Trump this month. It is unclear what the goal of the discussions was, however, as multiple officials told CNN the Trump administration is not seeking to return Abrego Garcia to the US or grant him any additional due process in either country.

The secretive seven-day pause in Abrego Garcia’s court case last week arose because a diplomatic resolution had become a possibility, according to other sources familiar with the matter. That pause expires Wednesday afternoon, a federal judge ruled. Abrego Garcia has been moved from CECOT, officially known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, to another facility in El Salvador, but there have otherwise been few public developments in the high-stakes case.

At a Cabinet meeting Wednesday at the White House, Rubio said he will “never tell” if he has been in touch with Bukele. “I would never tell you that,” Rubio responded to reporter who asked about a possible return of Abrego Garcia. “And you know who else I’ll never tell? A judge,” Rubio added, saying it was “because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/30/politics/abrego-garcia-us-el-salvador-discussions