CNN
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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.”
Abrego Garcia had previously been living in the US, and a judge years ago found he could be deported to anywhere but his home country of El Salvador because his life would be at risk there. The Trump administration acknowledged its mistake in court but has since argued its legal ability to send him to El Salvador has changed because he is allegedly a member of the gang MS-13, though it has produced little evidence to back up this claim.
Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Tuesday that he “could” tell El Salvador to send Abrego Garcia back to the US but will not. Multiple courts have said the Trump administration appears to be ignoring the judge’s orders to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from the prison.
Earlier this month the Supreme Court ordered that the government needed to take steps to “facilitate his release from custody” but sent his case back down to the lower court for further clarification on how that could be effectuated. The high court’s ambiguous ruling, which did not directly order his return to the United States, has provided the administration cover to allow Garcia to remain in El Salvador.
It’s still not clear what the possibilities might be for Abrego Garcia if there were a diplomatic deal. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing him, and Bukele said no.
A source familiar with the proceedings said the Justice Department is not seeking to return Abrego Garcia to the US at this time. If he were to return, the administration likely would attempt to process him and deport him again.
The Justice Department is also not expected to provide any additional due process to Garcia in El Salvador through a remote hearing or other means, according to the source.
The diplomatic effort the sources referred to also may be an attempt to take the temperature down politically and legally in a case where even Trump backers have criticized the White House for depriving Abrego Garcia of due process before he was mistakenly deported.
Trump, in his comments on Tuesday, pointed to the lawyers taking the lead with Abrego Garcia – indicating his intention to be removed from the political fight.
“I’m not the one making this decision,” Trump told ABC News. The president also said that government lawyers do not want to help bring Abrego Garcia back to the US.
And Bukele has made clear he has no plans to send Abrego Garcia out of El Salvador, especially back to the US.
“I hope you’re not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States,” Bukele said earlier this month. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Justice Department lawyers in court previously have said they would take steps “domestically” to aid in Abrego Garcia’s return if El Salvador would release him. Bondi said the US would be willing to send a plane, for instance.
But Judge Paula Xinis, who has handled his case in court for more than a month now and received an endorsement on her orders from Supreme Court, has said that was not enough.
Shortly after Xinis called out the Trump administration and Justice Department for wrongly interpreting her orders, forward movement in the court proceeding was paused and moved into confidential proceedings. That was when the diplomatic resolution was still a possibility, the sources told CNN.
But a new request this week from the Justice Department to further pause the case prompted Xinis to refuse to do so on Wednesday morning. Instead, the judge put the administration back on the clock to respond to questions about Abrego Garcia’s detention in El Salvador and prior removal proceedings by this Friday.
Up to six administration officials may also be interviewed under oath by Abrego Garcia’s lawyers by next week, the judge said. At least one of those depositions took place last week, according to a source familiar with the case.
Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told CNN that “over the next week, through discovery, we’re going to be able get to the bottom of this and we’re going to figure out who is telling him not to make that phone call,” referring to Trump.
Sandoval-Moshenberg said that last week, Judge Xinis appeared satisfied with the administration’s request to pause discovery, seeing it as being made in good faith. “She’s not falling for nonsense,” he said.
The attorney declined to comment on Wednesday’s closed-door proceedings and whether they were prompted by Trump’s comments to ABC News.
“It is clear that some person, or persons within the US government, is actively blocking other persons within the US government from complying with the judge’s order, and now we’re going to figure out who that is,” he said.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
