Trump says he has not spoken to El Salvador about man's return
FILE PHOTO: Cesar Abrego Garcia and Cecilia Garcia de Abrego, the brohter and the mother of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wear buttons with monarch butterflies, on the day of a press conference held by U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) after returning from a visit to El Salvador, where he advocated for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported from the U.S. without due process by the Trump administration, as an alleged MS-13 gang member and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security prison in El Salvador, at Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia, U.S., April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Cesar Abrego Garcia, and Cecilia Garcia de Abrego react as U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) holds a press conference after returning from a visit to El Salvador, where he advocated for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man deported from the U.S. without due process by the Trump administration, as an alleged MS-13 gang member and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security prison in El Salvador, at Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia, U.S., April 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, looks on during a press conference with other family members, supporters and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Trump says he has not spoken to El Salvador about man's return
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has not spoken to El Salvador's president about returning a man mistakenly deported from Maryland, and the top U.S. diplomat refused to comment on reported contacts with El Salvadoran authorities.
Asked if he thought El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele would reject a request from him seeking Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return, Trump said: "I don't know. I haven't spoken to him."
"I really leave that to the lawyers," he told reporters at the White House.
In an ABC News interview on Tuesday, Trump said he could help return Abrego Garcia with a phone call but would not, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's April 10 order for his administration to "facilitate" his release.
Trump's administration has argued that only El Salvador can act, and cited Bukele's comments in an April 14 meeting with Trump that he would not return Abrego Garcia.
On Wednesday, CNN reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bukele were in contact. The New York Times separately reported that a U.S. diplomatic note was sent to Salvadoran officials inquiring about Abrego Garcia's return but that Bukele's government said no.
Rubio, speaking alongside Trump at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, declined to comment and said he would not disclose any talks to the courts.
"The conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the President of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge," Rubio told reporters. "We will conduct foreign policy appropriately if we need to, but I'll never discuss it."
Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and El Salvador's presidential office did not respond to requests for comment on the reported contacts.
The U.S. District Court judge in Maryland handling the case on Wednesday ordered expedited discovery and other actions to be completed by mid-May.
Abrego Garcia, 29, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland with a work permit, was detained by U.S. immigration officers in March and questioned about alleged gang ties before being sent on one of three deportation flights to El Salvador with Venezuelan migrants despite a protective order allowing him to remain in the U.S.
Legal experts and Democrats say the case illustrates the risks to everyone's constitutional right to due process and raises questions about Trump's intentions on whether to comply with the courts, a third co-equal branch of government.
The White House has repeated the unproven accusation that Abrego Garcia is part of criminal gang MS-13, which the administration has designated a foreign terrorist group. His lawyers deny any gang affiliation, saying he left El Salvador at age 16 to escape such violence and received a protective order in 2019 to continue living in the U.S.
"If Donald Trump can ignore court orders and trample over the rights of one man, he threatens the rights of everyone who lives in the United States of America," said U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. a day after he pressed Trump to comply with legal orders.
The Republican president has touted his immigration crackdown as he marked his 100th day in office this week.
While immigration has been Trump's strongest area of support, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed respondents split on his handling of the issue. Separate Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos polling found more Americans say Abrego Garcia should be returned.
Lawyers for other migrants deported in the March flights have also urged courts to order the facilitation of their return from El Salvador.
Rubio on Wednesday told reporters the Trump administration was also seeking other countries to take deported migrants. It earlier announced a deal with Uzbekistan. Another U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered the administration to ensure due process for migrants held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
35 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Trump says meeting on Iran planned for Thursday
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an Invest America Roundtable in the State Dining room, at the White House, in Washington, U.S., June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. and Iran would continue talks on Thursday for a nuclear deal, adding that Tehran was a tough negotiator and that the main impediment to an agreement was over enrichment. "We're doing a lot of work on Iran right now," Trump told reporters at an economic event at the White House. "It's tough. ... They're great negotiators." "They're just asking for things that you can't do. They don't want to give up what they have to give up," he added. "They seek enrichment. We can't have enrichment. We want just the opposite. And so far, they're not there." "They have given us their thoughts on the deal. And I said, you know, it's just not acceptable," Trump said as Tehran plans to hand Washington a counter-proposal. Trump also said he discussed Iran among other topics with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, adding that the call went well. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Canada vows to meet NATO defense budget target early, then spend more
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney makes a speech about defense and security at the Munk School in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Arlyn McAdorey Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Victoria sails in the vicinity of Esquimalt Harbour while wearing a poppy on its sail in Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada November 5, 2021. S1 Kendric Grasby/Canadian Forces/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo A pair of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-188 Hornets fly with a United States Navy EA-18G Growler during Exercise Maple Flag 51 over Alberta, Canada June 15, 2018. OS Erica Seymour/Canadian Forces/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo TORONTO - Canada, under pressure to spend more on its military, vowed on Monday to boost funding for the armed forces and hit NATO's 2% military spending target this fiscal year, five years earlier than promised. Prime Minister Mark Carney also said Canada was likely in future to devote a greater percentage of GDP on defense, given the need to replace outdated equipment and reduce its heavy reliance on Washington. "Now is the time to act with urgency, force, and determination," Carney said in a speech in Toronto, reiterating promises to work more closely with Europe's defense industry. The United States and other NATO allies have complained for years about what they see as the inadequate level of Canadian military funding. Ottawa spends about 1.4% of its gross domestic product on defense, well below its NATO commitment. The Liberal government plans to meet the 2% target by spending an additional C$9 billion ($6.58 billion) this fiscal year. The money will go toward increasing recruitment, repairing equipment and forging new defense relationships. "We think that this proportion of spending relative to GDP is going to go up somewhat," Carney later told reporters. "That's important because it will protect Canadians." Pressed as to how Canada could afford this at a time of rising budget deficits, Carney cited efforts to cut spending while ruling out tax cuts. Reuters reported last month that NATO chief Mark Rutte had proposed alliance members should boost defense spending to 3.5% of GDP and commit a further 1.5% to broader security-related spending to meet a U.S. demand for a 5% target. Carney won the April 28 election on a promise to stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and also to reduce the country's military reliance on Washington. Randall Bartlett, deputy chief economist at Desjardins, said the extra spending would increase the budget deficit beyond the roughly C$60 billion Carney's election platform promised. "If the government aims to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2030 the deficit will only keep increasing," he said. Carney said another reason for Ottawa to act was what he called the decision by the United States to gradually withdraw from the concept of collective security. "Rising great powers are now in strategic competition with America. A new imperialism threatens. Middle powers compete for interests and attention, knowing that if they are not at the table, they will be on the menu," he said. The previous Liberal government last year formally committed to hit the NATO target by 2032. During the election campaign Carney pledged to get to 2% by 2030. Canada will boost pay for the armed forces and buy new submarines, aircraft, ships, armed vehicles and artillery, as well as new radar, drones and sensors to monitor the sea floor and the Arctic, Carney said, without giving details. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
US and Chinese officials meet in London for pivotal trade talks
LONDON: Top US and Chinese officials were meeting in London on Monday (Jun 9) to try to defuse a trade dispute that has widened from tariffs to restrictions over rare earths, threatening a global supply chain shock and slower economic growth. On the first of likely two days of talks, officials from the two superpowers were meeting at the ornate Lancaster House to try to get back on track with a preliminary agreement struck last month in Geneva that had briefly lowered the temperature between Washington and Beijing. Since then, the US. has accused China of slow-walking on its commitments, particularly around rare earths shipments. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that the US team wanted a handshake from China on rare earths after PresidentDonald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to resume shipments in a rare call between the two presidents last week. "The purpose of the meeting today is to make sure that they're serious, but to literally get handshakes," Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC in an interview. He said the US would expect export controls to be eased and rare earths released in volume immediately afterwards. The London talks, expected to continue into the evening on Monday, come at a crucial time for both economies, which are showing signs of strain from Trump's cascade of tariff orders since his return to the White House in January. Customs data showed that China's exports to the US plunged 34.5 per cent year-on-year in May in value terms, the sharpest drop since February 2020, when the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic upended global trade. In the US, business and household confidence has taken a pummeling, while first-quarter gross domestic product contracted due to a record surge in imports as Americans front-loaded purchases to beat anticipated price increases. But for now, the impact on inflation has been muted, and the jobs market has remained fairly resilient, though economists expect cracks to become more apparent over the summer. Attending the talks in London are US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The Chinese contingent led by Vice Premier He Lifeng includes Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and the ministry's chief trade negotiator, Li Chenggang. The inclusion of Lutnick, whose agency oversees export controls for the US, is one indication of how central rare earths have become, and some analysts saw it as a sign that Trump is willing to put recently imposed Commerce Department export restrictions on the table. China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets, a crucial component in electric vehicle motors. Lutnick did not attend the Geneva talks at which the countries struck a 90-day deal to roll back some of the triple-digit tariffs they had placed on each other. POSITIVE CONCLUSION Trump and Xi spoke by phone last week, their first direct interaction since Trump's Jan 20 inauguration. During the call, Xi told Trump to back down from trade measures that roiled the global economy and warned him against threatening steps on Taiwan, according to a Chinese government summary. But Trump said on social media the talks focused primarily on trade led to "a very positive conclusion," setting the stage for Monday's meeting in the British capital. The next day, Trump said Xi had agreed to resume shipments to the US of rare earths minerals and magnets, and Reuters reported that China has granted temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top three US automakers. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS IN FOCUS China's decision in April to suspend exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets upended the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. Kelly Ann Shaw, a former White House trade adviser during Trump's first term, said that the US was arguing that China's continued export control restrictions violated the agreement in Geneva to remove retaliatory measures. "What I expect to see announced in the next few hours is effectively a reaffirmation of China's commitment, plus some concessions on the US side, with respect to export controls measures over the past week or two," said Shaw, a trade partner at the Akin Gump law firm in Washington. But Shaw said she expected the US only to agree to lift some new export curbs, not longstanding ones such as for advanced artificial intelligence chips. Reuters reported on May 28 that the US ordered a halt to shipments of semiconductor design software and chemicals and aviation equipment, revoking export licenses that had been previously issued. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures" that the US wanted the two sides to build on the progress made in Geneva in the hope they could move towards more comprehensive trade talks. The preliminary deal in Geneva sparked a global relief rally in stock markets, and US indexes that had been in or near bear market levels have recouped the lion's share of their losses. But Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said while a temporary truce was possible, there was little prospect for the bilateral relationship to become constructive given broader decoupling trends and continued US pressure on other countries to take China out of their supply chains. "Everyone around Trump is still hawkish, and so a breakthrough US-China trade deal is unlikely, especially in the context of other deals that are further along and prioritised," he said in an analyst note.
