April 21 (UPI) — A group of House Democrats arrived in El Salvador Monday to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and incarcerated.
Reps. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., made the trip in an attempt to put pressure on the Trump Administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.
Garcia said in a press release Monday that the four have also made the journey to “remind the American people that kidnapping immigrants and deporting them without due process is not how we do things in America.”
“We are in a constitutional crisis,” Ansari posted to X Monday. “I’m in El Salvador to shine a light on Kilmar’s story and keep the pressure on Donald Trump to secure his safe return home.”
Despite the Supreme Court order that the United States “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, the White House has continued to claim that he is a gang member.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin purported in a press release Friday that Abrego Garcia is an “MS-13 gang member, illegal alien from El Salvador, and suspected human trafficker,” though he was never charged or jailed over these allegations.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, put out a statement Friday that he “will not approve a single dime” of “taxpayer funds for use on the excursion Democrats have requested.”
Garcia confirmed the trip to El Salvador was not approved nor paid for by Congress or taxpayer dollars.
Abrego Garcia was deported in March to El Salvador, where he was first placed into CECOT, a maximum-security prison, before being moved to a different facility last week at some point. He was visited by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Thursday. Abrego Garcia, a married father of three was in the U.S. legally with a green card, wasn’t charged with a crime and did not appear before a judge.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said last week during a visit to the White House he would not facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
