As the Trump administration fights a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland man with legal status who was deported to El Salvador — House Democrats are trying to bring attention to the standoff by showing up in El Salvador and demanding due process for Abrego Garcia.
Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia, Maxwell Frost, Yassamin Ansari and Maxine Dexter were all in El Salvador as of Monday demanding that Abrego Garcia be returned to the United States.
“While Donald Trump continues to defy the Supreme Court, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held illegally in El Salvador after being wrongfully deported,” Garcia said in a statement. “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.”
“We are demanding the Trump administration abide by the Supreme Court decision and give Kilmar and the other migrants mistakenly sent to El Salvador due process in the United States,” Garcia added.
Abrego Garcia is currently detained in a terrorist detention center in El Salvador, despite having no criminal conviction in the United States, a direct violation of due process protected by the Constitution. He had been legally living in Maryland with his family after a judge ruled that he could not be sent back to El Salvador because he was likely to be targeted by gangs.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Trump administration had to “facilitate” his return to the United States. However, the Trump administration has shown no intention of doing so, despite warnings that officials could be held in contempt of court for their lack of action.
Trump administration officials contend they can’t force El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia, and the president and vice president of El Salvador have likewise said there is nothing for them to do either.
The group of House Democrats will meet with officials at the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador Monday morning to advocate for Abrego Garcia’s release and ask about other people transferred from the U.S. who are currently detained in El Salvador, a person familiar told NOTUS. The group will also receive classified briefings during the visit to the country, this person said.
After the meetings, the lawmakers will spend the day with local human rights organizations and advocates, this source added.
The visit from these lawmakers comes days after Sen. Chris Van Hollen told reporters on Friday that Abrego Garcia said he’s been traumatized from his experiences in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison and another detention center.
“Getting a meeting with Kilmar was not easy,” Van Hollen said after returning from El Salvador, where he met with Abrego Garcia last week. “He’s obviously in a terrible situation. As I said, he’s experienced trauma. He said he’s sad every day.”
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Daniella Diaz is a reporter at NOTUS. Casey Murray is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.