A Republican senator has broken ranks with President Donald Trump and torn into his proposal to send American citizens to a prison in El Salvador.
“We have our own laws, we have the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution,” Sen. John Kennedy told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “We shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries in my judgment.”
When asked by host Kristen Welker whether he believes it is moral for the president to send U.S. citizens to foreign prisons, the Louisiana senator responded: “No, ma’am. Nor does it—nor should it be considered appropriate or moral.”
Kennedy also called out the White House’s treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador after being falsely accused of being a member of Venezuela’s deadly MS-13 gang.
“This was a screwup, in my opinion,” said Kennedy. “The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screwup. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador. He was sent to El Salvador.”
The Supreme Court recently ordered the White House to “facilitate” Garcia’s return to the U.S. in a rare 9-0 ruling, but their demands have so far been ignored by both the Trump administration and the El Salvador government.
Last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, travelled to El Salvador to meet with Garcia, and later told Welker that his imprisonment was due to an “administrative error” by the White House.
But when asked to comment on his claims, Kennedy said Van Hollen was being “next-level obtuse” if he thought Garcia might be returned to the U.S.
“Well, Chris is my friend. And I respect him. And he’s certainly entitled to his opinion,” said Kennedy. “But in my judgment, he is utterly and gloriously wrong.”
“Unless you’re next-level obtuse, you know that Mr. Garcia is never coming back to the United States, ever,” he added.
But Kennedy stopped short of blaming Trump directly for Garcia’s predicament, and instead claimed Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele was responsible for the Maryland man’s continued imprisonment.
The senator claimed Bukele “said up front in the Oval Office that he was not going to return Mr. Garcia. No federal judge, even J. Wilkinson, has authority over a sovereign country.”
He added: “Besides that, it should not go unnoticed that Mr. Bukele is much closer to President Xi in China than he is to President Trump. Xi is spending billions of dollars to build infrastructure in El Salvador. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve discussed this case.”
Kennedy refused to admit that the deportation of Garcia was part of a broader plan by the administration to deport foreign or even American citizens, despite Trump telling Bukele in their White House meeting that “homegrowns are next.”
But he remained adamant that the incident was a mistake, and the “gauzy rhetoric” deployed by the administrations was simply “rage-bait” designed to obfuscate the administration’s error.
“It was a screwup,” Kennedy repeated. “And I understand why the administration bowed up and said, ‘We won’t admit it’s a mistake.’ Because if they do, they’ll have their throats torn out. But it was a screwup.”
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