Sen. John Curtis says White House should make efforts return Abrego Garcia

The senator said the Trump administration should make efforts to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling to return the Maryland man.

Sen. John Curtis said Friday that he’s concerned about the Trump administration’s deportation of a Maryland man and, if he had the power to do so, the U.S. senator from Utah would have the man return to the United States.

“I think that there is concern, first, that he was deported,” Curtis told reporters, “and then there are lots of questions I have about, really, what the administration has in an ability to bring him back.”

Curtis noted that the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said during a meeting in the Oval Office last week that he would not facilitate the return of the man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.

“I’m not part of those conversations,” he added. “If I had a magic wand, of course I would bring him back, but I don’t have that.”

Curtis’s comments came after the Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier this month that Abrego Garcia had been wrongly deported after a 2019 ruling prevented his deportation out of concerns for his safety. Though President Donald Trump’s White House initially acknowledged that Abrego Garcia had been improperly deported, they have reversed course in recent weeks.

“I do think the Supreme Court decision is what it is, and there should be efforts to comply with it,” Curtis, a Republican member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said. “Again, if I were in control, that’s what I would do.”

Curtis spoke with reporters Friday afternoon following two public speaking engagements, including an energy roundtable with local leaders and a foreign relations panel hosted by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition.

At the global leadership panel, Curtis spoke about his concerns over cybersecurity and called the issue a “big deal” that must be addressed on a daily basis.

The issue of cybersecurity has been a recurring issue in Washington after a journalist for The Atlantic was added to a Signal group chat with White House and Department of Defense officials who were discussing planned air strikes in Yemen. Additionally, The New York Times reported Friday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s personal phone number, which he used for the Signal chat, was accessible online in recent weeks, including on WhatsApp, Facebook, and a fantasy sports website.

“I am very concerned about the transparency, and I have questions, and if I had a chance to sit down with Secretary Hegseth, that’s what I’d ask him,” Curtis said. “I think the American people deserve transparency about exactly what’s happened and what hasn’t happened, and I don’t have those answers myself yet — but I’d sure like to have it.”

Asked whether he has a position on whether the Defense secretary should be replaced, Curtis said he does not because he doesn’t have enough information yet.

“I think the American people deserve to know [what happened], as well,” he added.

Curtis also addressed a recent report about the administration’s desire to downsize two Utah monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante. He had “very strong feelings,” he said, particularly about Bears Ears, which is located in the House district he previously represented.

“I’m very familiar with it. I’ve worked with all of the tribes,” he said. “I’m absolutely convinced there is a legislative answer that would bring certainty to all sides of this.”

Pressed on whether he supports the president’s efforts, Curtis said, “I haven’t been opposed on it,” but added that he would like to present his own approach to administration officials, and that he has discussed the possibility of a legislative approach with U.S. Sen. Mike Lee and Gov. Spencer Cox.