Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center right, sit nearby as President Donald Trump meets with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, left, in the Oval Office of the White House. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Bondi made clear Wednesday that they continue to see the issue as squarely in the purview of Bukele.
"President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That's the end of the story," she said. "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."
Her remarks come after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court's order that requires the government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to "ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador."
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Maryland ordered Trump lawyers and plaintiffs to conduct an "intense," expedited two-week discovery process into efforts made to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return – including ordering top DHS and State Department officials to be deposed, under oath, in efforts to secure his return as the court weighs whether the Trump administration has been acting in good faith.
"Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments," U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis told both parties Tuesday, clearing the way for what she said would be an extremely fast-paced timeframe.
"There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding," she said of the process.
Bondi also emphasized that Abrego Garcia is not a U.S. citizen and had been living "illegally in our country from El Salvador."
FEDERAL JUDGES IN NEW YORK AND TEXAS BLOCK TRUMP DEPORTATIONS AFTER SCOTUS RULING
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to an El Salvador prison last month. (Fox News)
When asked by reporters about Abrego Garcia, Bondi and other Cabinet officials said the matter was up to Bukele's administration.
"That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That's not up to us," Bondi said then. "The Supreme Court ruled precedent that if El Salvador wanted to return him," she continued. "This is international matters, foreign affairs."
Bondi added that "if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it – meaning to provide a plane."
El Salvador has received hundreds of migrants from the U.S., including more than 200 Venezuelan nationals abruptly removed in March under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, and alleged members of the Salvadorian gang MS-13, under a $6 million deal struck with the U.S. earlier this year.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller doubled down on Bondi's assertion, noting that Abrego Garcia is a Salvadorian national.
"It's very arrogant, even for American media, to suggest that we would even tell El Salvador how to handle their own citizens as a starting point," Miller told reporters, claiming that "two courts" had found Abrego Garcia to be a member of the MS-13 gang.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-defiant-says-abrego-garcia-stay-el-salvador-end-story