Marco Rubio says he'll 'never tell' a judge if Trump requested Abrego Garcia's return

Carson Swick, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 30, 2025

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on a reporter’s question Wednesday about whether President Donald Trump’s administration has requested the return of wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador.

The exchange between Rubio and ABC News correspondent Karen Travers occurred during a White House cabinet meeting. It followed Trump’s admission Tuesday that he “could” theoretically bring back Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager and was deported from Maryland last month despite being granted “withholding of removal status” and legal working papers by a judge in 2019.

“Have you been in touch with El Salvador about returning Abrego Garcia? Has a formal request from this administration been made?” Travers asked Trump’s secretary of state.

“I would never tell you that. And you know who else I’d never tell? A judge,” Rubio replied. “The conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States in the executive branch, not some judge.”

Rubio’s “judge” comment is perhaps a reference to Maryland federal Judge Paula Xinis, who has set Wednesday as the deadline for the government to provide more information about their efforts to secure Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. — a power Trump officials previously suggested was vested in Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. On April 10, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the Trump administration must “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return. However, he remains in a lesser-known El Salvador jail after spending weeks at the country’s notorious CECOT prison.

The judge who allowed Abrego Garcia to remain in the U.S. said he would likely be persecuted by gangs if deported to El Salvador. Trump and his Republican allies have tried to discredit Abrego Garcia — and Democrats calling for his return — by amplifying questionable claims of his affiliation with international gang MS-13.

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