WASHINGTON (TNND) — The deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was center stage as El Salvador's President sat with Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Nayib Bukele said he would not be releasing Abrego Garcia.

President Trump expressed appreciation for the partnership with El Salvador while meeting with his Central American counterpart.

"We appreciate working with you because you want to stop crime and so do we," Trump said.

Over the weekend, 10 more deportees were sent to El Salvador, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that all were affiliated with gangs MS-13 or Tren de Aragua. President Bukele defended the deportation deal as a tool providing safety to citizens.

"To liberate 350 million people you have to imprison some. That’s the way it works," he said.

Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his family, was deported last month despite having claimed asylum and holding protective status from a 2019 immigration judge. The 2019 ruling stopped him from being deported back to El Salvador for his own safety. The Trump administration maintains he is an MS-13 gang member, a claim his family and attorneys dispute.

"I think if the government actually believed this was some big-time gang member, they would have made sure to file evidence of that into the case," Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia's attorney, said last week.

The Department of Justice initially described Abrego Garcia's deportation as an "administrative error," but the Trump administration now maintains that his protective status was nullified once MS-13 was designated a terrorist organization.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling requiring the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, the White House insists it cannot compel El Salvador to act.

"No court in the United States has the right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States, end of story," said Rubio during the Monday meeting.

President Bukele said he would not be releasing Abrego Garcia.

"The question is preposterous, how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States," he said.

White House Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News there was no mistake in the deportation, asserting that if Abrego Garcia were returned to the U.S., he would be deported again.

A federal district court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, with the White House's stance likely to intensify the proceedings.