SAN SALVADOR: A Democratic senator arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to press for the release of a US resident thrust to the center of a storm over President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies when he was mistakenly deported to the Central American country.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains imprisoned in a notorious jail in his native country despite a US federal judge’s order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the United States.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen said after landing in San Salvador that he hoped to meet with high-level government officials and possibly Abrego Garcia, who he said had been “illegally abducted” and wrongly deported.
“I told his wife and his family I would do everything possible to bring him home, and we’re going to keep working at this until we’re successful,” Van Hollen, who represents Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s home state, said in a video.
Van Hollen said before taking off that he wanted to show the Trump administration and El Salvador that Abrego Garcia’s supporters would not let up in the campaign for his return.
A legal US resident, Abrego Garcia was protected by a 2019 court order determining that he could not be deported to El Salvador, but he was sent there around a month ago.
The Trump administration has admitted its mistake, and has been ordered by the Supreme Court to “facilitate” the 29-year-old’s return.
But the administration — pressed on what action it was taking to remedy its error in lower court hearings — has not announced any efforts toward Abrego Garcia’s return.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said during a White House visit on Monday he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
Trump told reporters he did not have the authority to intervene, leaving the man in limbo.
Trump’s critics have warned that his defiance of the courts has placed the country on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.
“This is about due process. This is about rule of law,” Van Hollen said.
“What bullies do is they begin by picking on the most vulnerable. But if we get rid of the rule of law and due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny.”
The White House claims that it is complying with the courts and says, without providing evidence, that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. He denies the accusation and has never been charged of crimes in either country.
District Judge Paula Xinis said the case against him amounted to “nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant” of his gang membership.
West Virginia Republican congresswoman Riley Moore posted on X Tuesday that he had also traveled to El Salvador to see the prison where immigrants deported by the Trump administration are being held.
He declared himself supportive of Trump’s actions, however.
Another Democratic senator, Cory Booker, was also mulling a trip to the country but has not yet made an announcement on timing.
Two Democrats in the House of Representatives — Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California — were also reportedly planning to visit.