Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading negotiations with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele regarding efforts to bring back a Venezuelan man.
Rubio’s new responsibility is no guarantee that the Trump administration will bring back the man known in court documents as Cristian, who was deported despite court-ordered protections in the United States.
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Court filings on Monday said Rubio, who has taken on an increasingly important role in the administration, would take charge due to his existing relationship with Bukele.
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“Based on his deep diplomatic experience with El Salvador and the secretary’s familiarity with political and diplomatic sensitivities in that country, he is personally handling the discussions with the government of El Salvador regarding persons subject to the court’s order detained in El Salvador,” the State Department said in a statement included in the filing.
The court filing notes that Rubio has “read and understands this court’s order and wants to ensure the court he is making prompt and diligent efforts” to comply with it.
Cristian, who is 20 years old, is the second known person the Trump administration has deported to El Salvador despite previous protective orders. Cristian entered the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor and was part of a lawsuit that protected him and other immigrants from being deported while they were permitted to seek asylum.
The first case involves Salvadoran man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador despite a 2019 order from an immigration judge that said he could not be deported to his native country due to a legitimate threat of violence. The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return, but it has not complied.
The Trump administration has said the power to return anyone deported to El Salvador rests with Bukele. During a meeting in April, Bukele stated he did not intend to return Abrego Garcia, saying, “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Cristian and Abrego Garcia have been held in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center for several weeks. Bukele has touted the supposed fact that nobody has ever left the prison.