Trump says he hasn't asked El Salvador's president to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia

President Trump said he has not asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to hand over Kilmar Abrego Garcia to U.S. custody, though the U.S. has admitted deporting him to El Salvador was a mistake. In an interview published Friday Mr. Trump called Abrego Garcia's case "another men in women's sports thing for the Democrats."

"I haven't asked him positively, but he said he wouldn't," Mr. Trump replied when asked by Time magazine whether he had requested that Bukele return Abrego Garcia, given that a court order requires the administration to "facilitate" his release. "I haven't been asked to ask him by my attorneys. Nobody asked me to ask him that question, except you."

Trump administration officials have argued they can't return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. because it's up to Bukele to decide whether to send him back. But Bukele claimed in a White House meeting earlier this month he doesn't "have the power" to return him on his own. "I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course, I'm not going to do it. The question is preposterous," Bukele told reporters.