The Trump administration recently sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing a Salvadoran immigrant whom government officials have been ordered by the Supreme Court to help free, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

But the authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, said no, two of the people said. The Bukele administration claimed the man should stay in El Salvador because he is a Salvadoran citizen, according to one of those people.

It remained unclear whether the diplomatic effort was a genuine bid by the White House to address the plight of the immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who administration officials have repeatedly acknowledged was improperly expelled to El Salvador in March in violation of a court order expressly prohibiting him from being sent there.

Some legal experts suggested that the sequence of events could have been an attempt at window dressing by officials seeking to give the appearance of being in compliance with the recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the White House to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release.

The disclosure about the note adds to the confusion about the Trump administration’s efforts to free Abrego Garcia and whether it is seeking to comply with court orders. Even as the administration appeared to be moving privately to work toward Abrego Garcia’s release, it has publicly expressed unwillingness to bring him back to the United States.