Featured photo by The White House. Public Domain.
A surprise visit by the president of El Salvador to the White House on Monday was like a breath of fresh air from south of our border. Nayib Bukele, recently reelected by a landslide as Latin America’s most popular leader, was more Trump than Trump in defying media demands to return to the U.S. a Salvadoran whom Trump recently deported.
Federal judge Paula Xinis had ordered the return to the U.S. of the deported Salvadoran, to which Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi replied that it is “up to El Salvador if they want to return him.” Identified as Kilmar Abrego García, he had been allowed in 2019 to remain in the U.S. based on his alleged fear of retaliation by a gang in his homeland.
“How can I return him to the United States?” El Salvador President Bukele responded to the liberal media. “I smuggle him into the United States or what do I do? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
Bukele’s charming graciousness at the White House stood in stark contrast with other foreign visitors. Bukele declared that it is an “honor to be here” and that “we’re very eager to help” President Trump reduce terrorism and all crime.
Bukele praised Trump’s work on the border as “remarkable.” Bukele himself has achieved a sharp reduction in crime in El Salvador, which he attributes in part to prayer.
Trump effusively praised Bukele prior to their meeting, in a posting on Truth Social. “President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” Mr. Trump posted.
Trump’s Department of Justice has informed Judge Xinis of El Salvador’s unwillingness to return this illegal alien to the United States. Attorney General Bondi pointed out to the press that this alien was in our country unlawfully, so what’s the big fuss about trying to return him to his homeland?
It is unclear what Judge Xinis’ next move will be, and she held a hearing late Tuesday afternoon to indicate that she would elaborate on her court order for the Trump Administration to “facilitate” the return of Garcia from El Salvador. Courts rarely order a president to do something, particularly something that may not even be within the president’s power to do, and whatever she orders will surely be appealed back to the Supreme Court.
Courts do not have any way to enforce their orders without the support and cooperation of the Executive Branch, as run now by President Trump. So far he has promised to obey the law, but many federal courts have been continuing to issue orders that test Trump’s willingness to cooperate, and deportation pits federal courts directly against Trump’s authority as president.
Last weekend in Maine, a federal court ordered Trump to restart federal funding of Maine schools despite how they are defying his Executive Order against transgender athletes playing in girls’ sports. This was the focus of a sharp exchange between Trump and the Democrat Maine governor during a luncheon at the White House seven weeks ago.
Subsequently a federal judge ordered Trump to jump through some bureaucratic hoops before even trying to cut off this federal money from Maine schools. Neither Trump nor our country has the time for that as transgender activism swiftly marches ahead.
A total of 11 states have announced that they will not comply with directives from Trump’s Department of Education to stop using DEI or else lose federal funding, which sets up additional lawsuits against presidential authority.
In Ecuador, voters just elected their own conservative equivalent of Trump on Sunday. The liberal media laments how successful the conservative movement is in sweeping across Central and South America today.
Less than a generation ago, the countries south of our border were fertile ground for the spread of communism. Hugo Chavez rose to become a communist dictator in 1998 in Venezuela and ruined it before succumbing at a young age to cancer, as hospitals in communist countries including Cuba were ill-equipped from the poverty that communism causes.
The news show 60 Minutes analyzed the backgrounds of the group of Venezuelans and El Salvadorans deported by Trump to El Salvador, and about a dozen have been charged with murder, rape, assault, or kidnapping. More than one-fifth of the group has a criminal record somewhere, although mostly for non-violent crimes.
Courts are forcing our president to spend an inordinate amount of time on the fate of a few hundred illegal aliens who never should have been here in the first place. Recent surveys show that most American citizens are concerned about the economy, and it is not helping to keep illegal aliens here when jobs are scarce for Americans.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles Organizations with writing and policy work.
.jpg){kind=link}