Trump denies making decision to return Abrego Garcia to US

María Paula Mijares Torres, Bloomberg News on Jun 7, 2025

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President Donald Trump said he wasn’t involved in the decision to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man his administration mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador, and suggested federal prosecutors should have an easy case.

“That wasn’t my decision,” Trump said in comments to NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Saturday. “The Department of Justice decided to do it that way, and that’s fine.”

Abrego Garcia appeared in a Tennessee courtroom Friday, hours after he was returned to the U.S., ABC reported. A grand jury indicted him in May for allegedly transporting undocumented immigrants within the U.S., according to court documents.

“It should be a very easy case” for federal prosecutors, Trump said.

“Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant and they agreed to return him to our country,” Bondi said at a Friday press conference in Washington. “Upon completion of sentence we anticipate he will be returned to his home country of El Salvador.”

Abrego Garcia’s case became a flash point for Trump’s immigration policies, which seek to step up deportations of undocumented migrants and tighten border security.

The Supreme Court had told the administration in April to facilitate the Maryland resident’s return to the U.S. after he was deported to a prison in El Salvador.