Abrego Garcia 'Will Never Live in the US,' Says Press Secretary

The White House press secretary on Wednesday made it abundantly clear the Trump administration has no intention of "facilitating" Kilmar Ábrego García's return to the US after he was wrongly deported to his native El Salvador, despite the Supreme Court's order to that effect. "If he ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again. He will never live in the United States of America," Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing, the BBC reports. Attorney General Pam Bondi similarly doubled down at a press briefing Wednesday, Fox News reports. "He is not coming back to our country," she said. More:

• Bondi explains "facilitate": "President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That's the end of the story," Bondi continued, referring to President Trump's counterpart in El Salvador. "If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation, ever, where he was going to stay in this country. None." As for the SCOTUS order that the US "facilitate" his return, she said, "The Supreme Court ruled precedent that if El Salvador wanted to return him. This is international matters, foreign affairs. If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it—meaning to provide a plane."
• Abrego Garcia's past: Abrego Garcia was granted temporary protected status to remain in the US in 2019. The Trump administration says he's a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies. On Wednesday, the administration released documents detailing how officials came to the conclusion he was in the gang during an arrest in 2019, NBC News reports.
• Abrego Garcia's past, part II: The administration also revealed that Abrego Garcia's wife sought a temporary protective order against him in 2021. She quickly came forward with a response, CNN reports. "After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process."
• Mother of victim: Appearing with Leavitt Wednesday was Patty Morin, a Maryland woman whose daughter Rachel was killed by a Salvadoran fugitive who was in the US illegally, USA Today reports. "A senator from Maryland who didn't even acknowledge—or barely acknowledged—my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother" chose to "use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn't even an American citizen," she said of Sen. Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador, the New York Post reports.
• It's not just Van Hollen: Politico reports that Democrats are increasingly joining the cause, and several more congressional trips to El Salvador are planned. Sen. Cory Booker and Reps. Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia are among those who may go to the country soon, sources say.

(More Kilmar Abrego Garcia stories.)