How the Trump administration justifies not returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

• That simply means that if El Salvador asks to send him back, the U.S. has to help, administration officials argued today — not that the U.S. has to do anything proactive to rectify its error.
• "If they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the Oval Office.

El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, said he's not asking.

• "The question is preposterous," Bukele said at the White House today. "How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don't have the power to return him to the United States."

Zoom out: The two leaders have created a circular logic in which no one has the ability to do what the Supreme Court said must be done.

• The Justice Department is also arguing in legal filings that courts don't have the power to dictate specific steps to the executive branch. So, effectively, no one can initiate this process.

President Trump said during his appearance with Bukele that he'd be open to sending U.S. citizens to the same Salvadorian prison.

Go deeper: Timeline: The case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador