Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, called the Trump administration’s deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia a “screw up” during a Sunday appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press.

Newsweek has reached out to Kennedy’s press team and the White House for comment via email on Sunday.

Why It Matters

The deportation of Abrego Garcia has sparked outrage among Democrats and some Trump critics, with many raising concerns about the administration’s potential overreach, lack of due process, and sidestepping of various court orders. His deportation comes amid the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, a key campaign promise.

Abrego Garcia, who came to the U.S. illegally, was arrested in 2019 and accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia and his legal team have denied he is a member of the gang, but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded that he was, based on confidential information provided to the court. He was shielded from deportation to El Salvador because he said he would be targeted by MS-13’s gangland rivals.

Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported to El Salvador after being arrested last month in what the Trump administration lawyers said was an “administrative error.” His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the U.S., although his wife accused him of domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against him. They have since been reconciled.

He has been ordered to return to the United States by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, but the White House and El Salvador have pushed back. A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court instructed the administration to “facilitate” Garcia’s release and return, but the White House has resisted efforts.

Trump campaigned on a hardline immigration stance, pledging to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. In the initial months of his presidency, his administration has deported around 100,000 illegal immigrants, many following his invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which grants the president authority to deport non-citizens without appearing before a judge, among other wartime authorities.

Meanwhile, liberal and conservative judges have ruled the administration broke the law in the deportation of Abrego Garcia.

What To Know

Meet the Press host Kristen Welker questioned Kennedy about the case, asking the senator if Abrego Garcia should be returned to the U.S.

Kennedy replied that “Mr. Garcia is never coming back to the United States, ever, and that’s not because of President Trump that’s because of [Salvadoran] President [Nayib] Bukele. He said upfront in the Oval Office that he was not going to return Mr. Garcia.”

On Monday, Bukele and Trump met in the Oval Office to discuss immigration. The Central American nation received hundreds of deportees from the U.S., many of whom Trump claims are gang members.

During that meeting, Bukele said in reference to the potential return of Abrego Garcia, “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”

The Trump administration maintains that since Abrego Garcia is an El Salvadorian citizen and is in an El Salvadorian prison, they do not have the jurisdiction or means to extract him from a sovereign nation.

Trump and Bukele brokered a $6 million deal for El Salvador to detain about 300 migrants, including alleged gang members, at the country’s maximum-security prison, CECOT, for one year.

Kennedy said on Sunday that he is even less likely to get out of the country because “Bukele hates MS-13, and Mr. Garcia is allegedly a member of MS-13.”

The Republican senator continued: “Look this was a screw up in my opinion. The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screw up. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador, he was sent to El Salvador.”

Abrego Garcia was deported on March 15, despite the court order to temporarily halt those flights, and up until a couple days ago he was in CECOT. He has since transferred facilities in the country according to Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who just visited the fellow Marylander.

Welker followed up with the senator, asking if he’s concerned that more mistakes, like the deportation of Abrego Garcia, could happen.

“Sure, none of us wantmistakes. Mistakes ‘bad,’ doing it right ‘good,’ but it was a screw up. I understand why the administration is bowed up and won’t admit it’s a mistake because if they do, they will have their throats torn out, but it was a screw up, I don’t see any pattern here.”

The senator pledged to call out Trump if he defies court orders but added that hasn’t happened yet.

What People Are Saying

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School and Fox News legal analyst told Newsweek in an email Saturday: “The White House would be wise to heed Judge [J. Harvie] Wilkinson’s call for greater comity and respect between the judicial and executive branches. This is a respected conservative jurist who is appealing to our common article of faith in the Constitution. The holding was manifestly correct, but the dicta may be equally important in counseling greater restraint on both sides.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said during a press conference Friday: “This is about bringing home a man they admit should’ve never been abducted.”

President Donald Trump said during a news conference at the White House on Friday: “You’re talking about Abrego Garcia—he is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist. This comes from the State Department and very legitimate sources, I assume. I’m just giving you what they handed to me, but this is supposed to be certified stuff.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday: “The Supreme Court made their ruling last night very clear that it’s the administration’s responsibility to facilitate the return, not to effectuate the return.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the Oval Office on Monday: “First and foremost, he was illegally in our country, he had been illegally in our country…Right now, additional paperwork had needed to be done; that’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him.”

What Happens Next

Concerns are also growing over Trump’s suggestion to deport U.S. citizens with violent criminal convictions to El Salvador, a proposal he floated during an Oval Office meeting with Bukele, saying “We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters. I’d like to include them.”

He also reportedly told the Salvadorian president, “The homegrowns are next, the homegrowns. You’ve got to build about five more places,” presumably in reference to prison space, with Bukele responding “yeah, we’ve got space,” according to NPR.

The legal viability of Trump’s potential plan is extremely unclear, with David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the think tank Cato Institute, recently telling NPR: “It’s obviously unconstitutional, obviously illegal. There’s no authority in any U.S. law to deport U.S. citizens and certainly not to imprison them in a foreign country.”

When asked about it by Welker, Kennedy, who is an attorney, said the idea should not be “considered appropriate or moral” adding that “we shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries.”