'We need answers now': Dems plan El Salvador trip seeking Kilmar Abrego Garcia release
Democratic lawmakers say if a wrongly deported man sent to a supermax prison in El Salvador isn't brought back to the United States, they will visit the Central American country, adding further pressure on the Trump administration for his release.
President Donald Trump met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office on April 14, where he praised the foreign leader for opening his country's notorious prison system to alleged gang members and detainees some U.S. officials want out of the country.
Bukele told reporters he does not have the power to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal worker who lived in Maryland and was allowed to remain in the country by a federal judge's protective order after entering the United States illegally in 2011.
Abrego Garcia, a father of three, has become a centerpiece of the Trump administration's clampdown on illegal immigration after Department of Justice officials acknowledged that he should not have been sent to El Salvador.
"I've been clear: if President Bukele doesn't want to meet here in D.C., then I intend to go to El Salvador this week to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia's condition and discuss his release," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said in an April 14 post on X.
"Kilmar was illegally abducted and deported by the Trump (administration). He must be brought home now."
Other members of Congress say they plan to join Van Hollen's trip, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, who described Garcia's detention as a "kidnapping and illegal detention."
"We need answers now," said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Arizona, who reshared Van Hollen's post on April 14.
The two sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, on April 15 requesting a congressional delegation visit the maximum security prison to "conduct a welfare check" on Abrego Garcia.
'No lawful right to be here': Trump administration digs in heels
As much noise as Democrats and their allies make, however, the Trump administration for the moment appears resolute that despite the mistake that deported Abrego Garcia to the notorious prison, he should not be in the United States.
"It’s mind-boggling the priorities of the modern-day Democrat Party," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on April 15 when asked about Van Hollen’s plans to go to El Salvador.
"I think it's atrocious that you have Democrats in Congress, on Capitol Hill ‒ who swear an oath to protect their constituents and to serve them in Washington, D.C. ‒ spending more time defending illegal-immigrant gang members than their own constituents and law-abiding American citizens."
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended Abrego Garcia's deportation, even after the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ordered U.S. officials to facilitate his return.
A U.S. district judge has also said the Trump administration has not provided evidence to support that accusation, according to court documents.
Abrego Garcia left El Salvador at age 16 to escape gang violence, according to court records, and later testified he came to the U.S. because the Barrio 18 gang, a rival of MS-13, was extorting and threatening him and his family.
But Trump's supporters have spotlighted a police document presented to the courts by federal officials in 2019. It states Abrego Garcia was believed to be a gang member because he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie. It also says a confidential informant advised that Abrego Garcia was an active member of MS-13 with the "Western" clique.
"He has no lawful right to be here," Stephen Miller, who serves as the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, told reporters on April 14. "He was issued a final order of removal from this country, and so it's up to El Salvador and to the government and the people of El Salvador what the fate of their own citizens is. We can't extradite citizens of foreign countries to our country over the objection of those countries."
Contributing: George Petras, Veronica Bravo and Joey Garrison.