WASHINGTON — A group of House Democrats flew to El Salvador on Sunday to push for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly removed from the United States last month to a maximum-security prison.
Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) led the effort. They were joined by Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) and Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.).
President Trump has refused to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. — despite a Supreme Court order to “facilitate” his return — arguing he has no authority to do so.
The Abrego Garcia case has become a focal point in the debate around immigration and limits to executive authority. Trump has framed the Abrego Garcia case as an immigration issue, while critics say the real issue is upholding the Constitution and the right to due process.
“Trump is defying a Supreme Court order to bring Kilmar home,” Garcia said Sunday just before departing Washington for El Salvador. “We’re there to obviously demand his release and to continue the pressure on the administration.”
Democrats had hoped to organize a congressional delegation to visit Abrego Garcia. Trips that are organized in an official capacity grant legislators more security and resources.
On Tuesday, Garcia and Frost sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) requesting authorization to fund an official visit to the Terrorism Confinement Center, also called CECOT, a mega-prison that can hold 40,000 people.
“A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT, such as Andry José Hernandez — a 30-year-old LGBTQ makeup artist who passed a ‘credible fear’ interview during his legal asylum process before being deported,” the lawmakers wrote. “In addition, congressional oversight is warranted following President Trump’s recent remarks in which he expressed a desire to send ‘homegrown criminals’—including U.S. citizens—to this facility.”
Comer denied the request Friday, stating in a letter that he would not “approve a single dime of taxpayer funds” for such a trip.
“It is absurd that you both displayed active hostility for over two years toward the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border Crisis and the consequences of millions of illegal aliens entering the country,” Comer wrote, “yet now, you are seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members.”
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied a similar request from Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Ill.).
But House Republicans were granted official travel to El Salvador last week. Reps. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Riley Moore (R-W. Va.) shared photos on X of themselves at the prison.
Garcia called Comer’s denial “shameful” given the approvals for Republican members. He said his trip — which is being personally funded by Garcia and the other legislators — would include a meeting with officials at the U.S. Embassy, local advocates who have been demanding the release of Abrego Garcia, and his legal team.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) was the first U.S. legislator to meet with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen returned Friday from a three-day trip to El Salvador to push for his release, saying the case is about far more than one man.
““It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said Abrego Garcia told him he had been moved from CECOT to a detention center with better conditions. His status since Van Hollen left is unknown.
Garcia said his trip continues the groundwork that Van Hollen laid.
Abrego Garcia, who is from El Salvador, lived legally in Maryland. A 2019 immigration judge’s order prohibited his removal to El Salvador. But he was removed March 15 in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged was an “administrative error.” White House officials allege that he is a member of MS-13, though he has not been charged with gang-related crimes.
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