Trump Says He’s ‘not Defying The Supreme Court’ Amid Standoff Over Wrongly Deported Man

President Donald Trump said he’s not defying a Supreme Court ruling to “facilitate” the return of a man wrongly deported to El Salvador, amid ongoing resistance from his administration to advance the Salvadoran native's return.

The Trump administration has been digging in its heels over Kilmar Abrego Garcia, making the high-profile case a flash point for its broader immigration crackdown. Despite the Supreme Court ruling that the administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, the Trump administration has repeatedly dodged efforts to bring him back to the United States after his illegal deportation, with the administration arguing it merely has to allow his entry back into the country should Salvadoran authorities release him.

“I'm not defying the Supreme Court,” Trump said in an interview with TIME Magazine staff posted Friday. “I never defy the Supreme Court. I wouldn't do that. I'm a big believer in the Supreme Court, and have a lot of respect for the justices.”

Democrats and legal experts have rallied around Abrego Garcia’s case, calling it a bubbling constitutional crisis that challenges due process rights. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) recently traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia.

But when asked about the ruling, Trump said his lawyers were on top of the situation and that he believes he’s in compliance with the court’s ruling.

“I leave that to my lawyers,” he said in the interview, which was conducted Tuesday. “I give them no instructions. They feel that the order said something very much different from what you're saying … If they want — and that would be the attorney general of the United States and the people that represent the country. I don't make that decision.”

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who was living in Maryland, was deported last month to El Salvador, despite a previous court order saying he could not be sent there due to a fear of persecution. He was part of a group of over 200 other Venezuelans and Salvadorans the Trump administration accused of being gang members when the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March. A federal judge has said the evidence around Abrego Garcia’s alleged gang membership was flimsy.

Beyond Abrego Garcia’s case, the Supreme Court blocked Trump from deporting a second wave of Venezuelan immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act last week.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said earlier this month that Abrego Garcia is “not coming back” to the United States.

Pressed on if Abrego Garcia deserves to have his day in court, Trump said “bringing him back and retrying him wouldn't bother” him.

Trump added that he hasn’t directly asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele — who has called Abrego Garcia a “terrorist” — to facilitate the return, saying “I haven’t asked him positively, but he said he wouldn’t.”

Trump said he’d comply with lower court rulings, despite his ongoing attacks against federal judges who have halted the implementation of a string of his administration’s immigration orders.

The U.S. district judge overseeing Abrego Garcia’s case Tuesday said the Trump administration is trying to “obstruct” efforts to get information on how Abrego Garcia was deported and said the administration was mischaracterizing the Supreme Court ruling.

“That Order made clear that this Court ‘properly required the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador,’” Judge Paula Xinis wrote.