Democrats Demand That White House Return Abrego Garcia to U.S.

Four Democratic U.S. lawmakers traveled to El Salvador on Monday to press for the release of wrongfully detained Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon met with U.S. Embassy staff and human rights activists in San Salvador to urge the Trump administration to abide by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered the White House to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

“While Donald Trump continues to defy the Supreme Court, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,” Garcia, the congressman, said. “That is why we’re here—to remind the American people that kidnapping immigrants and deporting them without due process is not how we do things in America.”

Abrego Garcia was transferred to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center on March 15 along with more than 200 individuals accused of being members of Venezuelan gangs, including MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. The White House has since admitted that he was wrongfully deported due to an “administrative error.” However, Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele have refused to take any action to bring him back.

Last Thursday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen briefly met with Abrego Garcia in San Salvador after accusing local authorities of withholding information about his whereabouts and health. Van Hollen has since said that the backdrop of their meeting was staged to make it look as if Abrego Garcia was being treated well. On Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department filed an update saying that Abrego Garcia had been moved out of the mega-prison and to Centro Industrial detention facility in Santa Ana.

Read more in today’s World Brief: U.S. Democrats Travel to El Salvador to Demand Abrego Garcia’s Release.