El Salvador’s President Bukele meets with Trump at the White House

President Trump is meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday, with plenty for the two leaders to discuss. 

“You’ve been incredible for your country and we appreciate working with you, because you want to stop crime and so do we,” Mr. Trump said at the start of their meeting in the Oval Office. 

Bukele, a tough-on-crime leader, said it was an “honor to be here” and “we’re very eager to help” with stopping crime and terrorism. Bukele told Mr. Trump what he’s doing with the border is “remarkable,” praising the plunge in crossings at the U.S. southern border. 

Mr. Trump and Bukele are expected to talk about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported from the U.S. to a notorious El Salvador prison last month. Over the weekend, the Justice Department said they’re willing to take “all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles” to facilitate his return but the government hasn’t detailed what that looks like. 

The Trump administration has cited the Bukele meeting as part of a “sensitive process” underway. 

“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” Michael G. Kozak, a senior State Department official, said in a Friday court filing. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”

The Trump administration sent deportation flights with scores of foreign nationals that they describe as members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. Among them was Abrego Garcia, who lives in Maryland with his wife and children.

His lawyers insist he has no affiliation with MS-13, and has never been charged or convicted of any criminal offenses in the U.S. or El Salvador. The Trump administration acknowledged that his deportation to the high-security prison in El Salvador was an “administrative error.” 

In announcing his meeting with Bukele, Mr. Trump said in a Truth Social post, that their nations “are working closely together to eradicate terrorist organizations, and build a future of Prosperity.”

“President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” Mr. Trump wrote. “These barbarians are now in the sole custody of El Salvador, a proud and sovereign Nation, and their future is up to President B and his Government. They will never threaten or menace our Citizens again!”