Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) has become the latest in a growing list of Democrats throwing their support behind Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal alien and accused MS-13 gang member who was deported to his home country of El Salvador by the Trump administration.
Sharing a link to an article in which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was quoted saying the 29-year-old Salvadoran national is “not coming back to our country,” despite having been mistakenly transported to the Latin American country’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), Crockett argued that Bondi is defying the “rule of law.”
“Skipped the paperwork. Ignored the court order. Broke the law. Ignored the constitution. This ain’t immigration policy. This is straight-up defiance of the rule of law,” the Democrat congresswoman wrote on X:
Skipped the paperwork. Ignored the court order. Broke the law. Ignored the constitution.
— Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (@RepJasmine) April 16, 2025
This ain’t immigration policy. This is straight-up defiance of the rule of law. https://t.co/Z9EGbUooPc
Bondi shot back at the Democrat party’s outpouring of sympathy for Abrego Garcia — who is a member of MS-13 and an alleged domestic abuser, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — during a press conference on Wednesday. Bondi stated:
He is not coming back to our country. President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story. If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation ever where he was going to stay in this country. None, none.
He is an illegal alien who has been living illegally in our country from El Salvador. ICE testified, an immigration judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. An appellate judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. Hard stop. He should not be in our country.
According to DHS, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Maryland last month with “rolls of cash and drugs” along with two other members of the dangerous Salvadoran gang:
1. When Garcia was arrested he was found with rolls of cash and drugs.
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) April 16, 2025
2. He was arrested with two other members of MS-13.
3. Two judges found that he was a member of MS-13. That finding has not been disturbed.
4. When arrested he was wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform. pic.twitter.com/iDY7jP371Y
Court documents shared by the agency also revealed domestic violence accusations made by the illegal alien’s American wife in 2021, when she filed for an order of protection after he allegedly punched and scratched her and tore off her clothes:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a history of violence and was not the upstanding “Maryland Man” the media has portrayed him as.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 16, 2025
According to court filings, Garcia’s wife sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt,… pic.twitter.com/FpSV0k3i90
As Breitbart News detailed of Abrego Garcia’s legal standing in the U.S.:
Abrego Garcia was previously arrested by immigration officials on March 28, 2019, with Judge Elizabeth Kessler finding that he “was arrested in the company of other ranking gang members and was confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.”
Arguing that he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13,” Kessler denied Abrego Garcia’s bond. He married his pregnant girlfriend, an American citizen, while he was still in a Maryland immigration detention center, the Independent reported.
After his now-wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, gave birth to their first child together a few months later, Judge David M. Jones granted Abrego-Garcia’s request for “withholding of removal” back to El Salvador based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by MS-13 rival gang Barrio 18.
“In short, Abrego Garcia was ‘removable,’ but not to his country of origin, which is El Salvador,” Breitbart News reported.
Trump administration officials have since admitted the illegal alien was mistakenly put on a deportation flight to El Salvador but have pushed back on Democrat lawmakers’ mission to get him back.
Before Crockett voiced her support for Abrego Garcia, Maryland Democrats Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, and Rep. Jamie Raskin were already on board with getting him back — with Van Hollen even ditching his constituents to travel to El Salvador himself.
Salvadoran officials blocked the left-wing senator from seeing Abrego Garcia at CECOT, while he promised the illegal alien’s family that he is still doing “everything” he can to get him out.
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also remarked on the drama, calling on “Americans of conscience” to “stand against this now”:
Before the election, I warned that there is no safe haven under authoritarianism.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 16, 2025
If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison—accused of no crime, with no trial—they can do it to anyone.
Americans of conscience must stand against this now.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, D.C. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.