White House: Abrego Garcia deportation to El Salvador 'always going to be end result' [View all]

Source: The Hill

Court Battles
White House: Abrego Garcia deportation to El Salvador ‘always going to be end result’

by Brett Samuels - 04/15/25 2:25 PM ET

The White House asserted Tuesday there was no scenario in which a Maryland man whose deportation to El Salvador has made national headlines and spurred court battles would end up living a “peaceful life” back in the United States.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed exasperation over media coverage of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national whom administration officials acknowledged in a court filing they mistakenly deported. Officials have since changed their tune on that matter, and the lawyer who wrote of the “administrative error” has since been put on leave.

Leavitt also indicated Abrego Garcia would simply be deported again if he was returned to the U.S. ... “Deporting him back to El Salvador was always going to be the end result. There is never going to be a world in which this is an individual who is going to live a peaceful life in Maryland,” Leavitt told reporters at a briefing.

“Because he is a foreign terrorist and an MS-13 gang member. Not only have we confirmed that, [El Salvador] President [Nayib] Bukele yesterday in the Oval Office confirmed that as well,” Leavitt continued. “So he went back to his home country, where he will face consequences for his gang affiliation and his engagement in human trafficking. I’m not sure what is so difficult about this for everyone in the media to understand.”

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Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5249835-abrego-garcia-deportation-el-salvador/