Marco Rubio and Salvadoran president have been in touch about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, sources say
This undated photo provided by CASA
By Priscilla Alvarez, Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid and Alayna Treene, CNN
(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 mega prison, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
A US official 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.
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.
Yet it is unclear what the goal of the discussions was, however, as multiple officials tell CNN the Trump administration is not seeking to return Abrego Garcia to the US or grant him any additional due process in either country.
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.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
