Arbitrariness and disdain for the most basic rights were on display at the White House on Monday, April 14, as the president of the United States warmly received his Salvadoran counterpart. Donald Trump owed this courtesy to Nayib Bukele, who has obligingly opened his prisons to migrants portrayed as gang affiliates and expelled by the US. These expulsions were carried out under a 1798 law previously used only in times of war.
The fight against immigration – especially illegal immigration – was a driving force behind Trump's reelection. He was significantly aided by the Democratic camp's slow response to Americans' growing frustration on the issue. While the Republican president's trade war has undermined his citizens' confidence in what was once considered his strong suit – economic decision-making – he can point to the sharp decline in illegal entries and the first expulsions of undocumented individuals prosecuted by the American justice system. The stakes are substantial, which is why this issue has become a source of fierce friction between the judiciary and the government.
For Trump, legal procedures and judicial rulings matter little. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran legally residing in the US, embodies this intent to subject the law to numerical policy. Brutally arrested on March 15 in Maryland – despite no charges against him – and immediately transferred to a Salvadoran penitentiary in defiance of a federal judge's order, he now risks languishing there for a long time. Under pressure, the American authorities have had to acknowledge their error, yet refuse to rectify it.
The highest judicial authority in the US, the Supreme Court, unanimously requested on April 10 that the American administration "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia, acknowledging that he had been improperly transferred to El Salvador. The US administration shifted responsibility onto Salvadoran sovereignty, and Bukele, in the Oval Office of the White House, told reporters he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the US.
This statement was a striking display of cynicism, given the state of exception imposed on this small Central American country in the name of fighting the devastating violence that has long characterized it. Adored by part of the American right and many of Trump's associates, Bukele has achieved undeniable results in reducing crime and enjoys a level of popularity that allowed him to secure a second term in 2024 – theoretically prohibited by the Constitution. The price is authoritarian rule that now operates beyond any form of oversight. This model was honored at the White House on Monday.
The case of Abrego Garcia demonstrates the Trump administration's intent to carry out expulsions without any due process or accountability for the consequences. It is a deliberate and alarming challenge to the rule of law upon which the US was founded.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.