Deported Man Will Not Be Sent Back to US, Salvadoran President Says

White House officials said the deportee is an illegal alien and that El Salvador can decide how to handle him.

President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office of the White House on April 14, 2025. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele told reporters at the White House on April 14 that an illegal alien deported back to his home country of El Salvador will not be returned to the United States.

“You’re suggesting I smuggle a terrorist into the United States,” Bukele said during the Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump. “I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”