Open this photo in gallery: A protester holds a photo of Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia as demonstrators gather to protest against the deportation of immigrants to El Salvador outside the Permanent Mission of El Salvador to the United Nations, on April 24, in New York City.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has not spoken to El Salvador’s president about returning a man mistakenly deported from Maryland, and the top U.S. diplomat refused to comment on reported contacts with El Salvadoran authorities. Asked if he thought El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele would reject a request from him seeking Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return, Trump said: “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him.” “I really leave that to the lawyers,” he told reporters at the White House. In an ABC News interview on Tuesday, Trump said he could help return Abrego Garcia with a phone call but would not, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 10 order for his administration to “facilitate” his release. Trump’s administration has argued that only El Salvador can act, and cited Bukele’s comments in an April 14 meeting with Trump that he would not return Abrego Garcia. On Wednesday, CNN reported that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bukele were in contact. The New York Times separately reported that a U.S. diplomatic note was sent to Salvadoran officials inquiring about Abrego Garcia’s return but that Bukele’s government said no. Rubio, speaking alongside Trump at a Cabinet meeting at the White House, declined to comment and said he would not disclose any talks to the courts. “The conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the President of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge,” Rubio told reporters. “We will conduct foreign policy appropriately if we need to, but I’ll never discuss it.” Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and El Salvador’s presidential office did not respond to requests for comment on the reported contacts. The U.S. District Court judge in Maryland handling the case on Wednesday ordered expedited discovery and other actions to be completed by mid-May. Abrego Garcia, 29, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland with a work permit, was detained by U.S. immigration officers in March and questioned about alleged gang ties before being sent on one of three deportation flights to El Salvador with Venezuelan migrants despite a protective order allowing him to remain in the U.S. Legal experts and Democrats say the case illustrates the risks to everyone’s constitutional right to due process and raises questions about Trump’s intentions on whether to comply with the courts, a third coequal branch of government. The White House has repeated the unproven accusation that Abrego Garcia is part of criminal gang MS-13, which the administration has designated a foreign terrorist group. His lawyers deny any gang affiliation, saying he left El Salvador at age 16 to escape such violence and received a protective order in 2019 to continue living in the U.S. “If Donald Trump can ignore court orders and trample over the rights of one man, he threatens the rights of everyone who lives in the United States of America,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. a day after he pressed Trump to comply with legal orders. The Republican president has touted his immigration crackdown as he marked his 100th day in office this week. While immigration has been Trump’s strongest area of support, Reuters/Ipsos polling showed respondents split on his handling of the issue. Separate Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos polling found more Americans say Abrego Garcia should be returned. Lawyers for other migrants deported in the March flights have also urged courts to order the facilitation of their return from El Salvador. Rubio on Wednesday told reporters the Trump administration was also seeking other countries to take deported migrants. It earlier announced a deal with Uzbekistan. Another U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered the administration to ensure due process for migrants held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.