On Monday, President Trump and Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele spoke to the press from the White House, laughing together as they discussed human rights violations and their plans to incarcerate immigrants and U.S. citizens alike in El Salvador’s private mega-jail, CECOT. The most shocking moment of the press conference came when Bukele declared that El Salvador would not release Kilmar Abrego García and return him to the United States.

This twist surprised many who thought the case was closed after a court ordered the U.S. resident’s release after his wrongful imprisonment in March. When asked directly whether Abrego García would be returned to the United States, Bukele replied, “Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.” With the Trump administration asserting that the decision rests with El Salvador, the executive branch is openly challenging court orders that oppose its authority, sending the media into a frenzy over a possible “constitutional crisis.”

As Abrego García’s future hangs in the balance, Trump and his administration are using the case as a precedent to escalate their racist and xenophobic attacks, suggesting that they will target U.S. citizens for imprisonment in El Salvador and other countries. Trump used the meeting with Bukele to reaffirm the United States’ intentions to “offshore” detentions in El Salvador’s jails, making unfounded claims that doing so would offset the costs of his xenophobic deportation agenda. Abrego García, along with everyone detained by ICE or deported for their immigration status or political beliefs, must be released immediately. As the courts fail to meaningfully challenge Trump, it falls to the united efforts of the working class, students, and all those outraged by these attacks to organize resistance from below.

Abrego García, who has lived in the United States for the last 14 years, was arrested, deported, and imprisoned in El Salvador in mid-March after being targeted by the Trump administration for alleged ties to criminal organizations in El Salvador. When his family challenged his deportation, ICE admitted that the Maryland resident’s detention was an “administrative error.” On April 10, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court order, stipulating that the United States must “facilitate” his return.

Despite Trump’s reassurances this week that he would comply with the court order, the administration has been trying to circumvent the ruling. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the courts were overstepping by interfering in foreign affairs, while Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Monday that the administration’s hands are tied and that it is “up to El Salvador” to return Abrego García to his family.

Bukele answered in kind, calling Abrego García a “terrorist” and asserting that he would neither “smuggle” him into the United States nor release him in El Salvador. Instead, Abrego García will remain imprisoned, alongside hundreds of other immigrants arrested in the United States for supposed ties to criminal organizations like MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. For Abrego García and many others, the “evidence” for their arrest is nothing more than having tattoos. While their families receive no information about their whereabouts, those imprisoned face brutal, inhumane conditions in this private prison, including a lack of access to medical treatment and cruel overcrowding.

Bukele, who calls himself the “world’s coolest dictator,” has gained international notoriety for his incarceration campaign in El Salvador. His administration’s policies have led to an extraordinarily high incarceration rate — one in 57 Salvadorans, or 1.6 percent of the population. Despite constitutional prohibitions, Bukele has pursued reelection with the backing of a Supreme Court dominated by his allies, and the Trump administration is eager to support him in ways that benefit U.S. imperialist interests. Bukele has tied his future to further subjugating El Salvador to the United States, betting that an alliance with Trump will generate more profit for his prisons and shield him from domestic opposition.

For its part, the Trump administration is testing the limits of its extreme xenophobic war on immigrants in the United States. With over 1,000 student visas revoked across the country on absurd charges and over 11,000 people deported by ICE in the first three months of Trump’s second administration, the president is trying to scapegoat immigrants to distract from and weaken the working class amid significant cuts to social programs and attacks on unions, the right to bodily autonomy, and the right to protest.

Abrego García’s case has reignited discussions of a “constitutional crisis,”  highlighting Trump’s blatant overreach. The executive and judiciary are locked in a tit-for-tat struggle to see how far Trump can pursue his agenda.. While the Trump administration refuses to act to ensure Abrego García’s return to the United States, it is openly pushing the boundaries of the court’s rulings and inviting a challenge. The courts, however, refuse to openly contradict Trump, issuing tepid warnings instead.

Whether the United States is responsible for reuniting Abrego García with his family — and whether Trump is compelled to openly defy a court order — depends on a single word in the ruling. SCOTUS amended the original court order to “effectuate” his return, replacing it with the more ambiguous directive to “facilitate” his release. This is not merely semantics; the highest courts are playing a cautious game to avoid a direct clash with the administration. In this context, the issue is not what constitutes a direct contradiction by the executive of a court ruling, but how the courts are already complying with the Trump agenda and shifting the relationship between the three branches of government. This was made evident by a court ruling that lifted a block on fast-tracked deportations of Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador.

Courts prefer to rule on procedure rather than human rights. Thus, while Trump tries to reshape the relationship between the branches of government and strengthen his executive powers, we should not harbor illusions that the courts will serve as any sort of emergency break on Trump’s attacks.

The only way to bring Abrego García home to his family, release all those imprisoned by ICE, and halt the administration’s targeting of immigrants and international students is to mount a defense from below that gives expression to the outrage at Trump’s xenophobic assault. Abrego García, like many others targeted by the administration, is a union member; this means the struggle for his release is a labor issue. By organizing in our schools, workplaces, and communities — demanding that union leaders and universities move beyond mere words to mobilize in the streets — we can take our fates out of the hands of the courts and into our own hands, asserting that when the state comes for one of us, we all rise up.