Democrats take stand for wrongly deported Maryland man

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to negotiate the return of Kimar Abrego Garcia, who was erroneously deported by the Trump administration. Van Hollen is one of several Democrats now sounding the alarm about Abrego Garcia’s plight.

“Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador,” Van Hollen said on social media Tuesday night. “He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family. I’m flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.”

Abrego Garcia was deported last month, even though a 2019 court order specifically barred his removal to El Salvador. He’s now being held in the country’s notorious CECOT prison, where the Trump administration has been funding the Salvadoran government to detain undocumented migrants—often indefinitely and without formal charges.

The White House said Abrego Garcia’s arrest was an “administrative error,” but they also insist that they have no jurisdiction over the prison and no recourse to bring him home. They also say he is a member of the violent gang MS-13—a charge his family and lawyer strongly deny, saying there is no evidence to support it.

“Everything they are saying is wrong,” Abrego’s Garcia’s wife told ABC News. “My husband is a loving father and what I know is that he’s an amazing husband, an amazing father. That’s who he truly is.”

On the same day Van Hollen announced his El Salvador mission, Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost and California Rep. Robert Garcia sent a letter to the House Oversight Committee requesting that a congressional delegation also visit the prison.

“A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia as well as others held at CECOT,” the letter sates. 

The letter specifically mentions Andy José Hernandez—a 30-year-old LGBTQ makeup artist who was deported despite credible concerns about his safety. Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to the Trump administration requesting that Hernandez be released.

“We are not a nation that sends people to be tortured and victimized in a foreign prison for public relations victories,” Newsom wrote. “I urge you to reevaluate your policies and ensure due process for everyone under the control of the U.S. judicial and law enforcement system, including those wrongly sent to El Salvador, as federal law requires.”

On April 11, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling demanding that the White House facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States On April 15, a district judge said the Trump administration had done nothing to comply with the order. 

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker said President Donald Trump is flagrantly defying a court order, which experts say is the threshold for a constitutional crisis.

“The Supreme Court was clear: the Trump administration must act to facilitate the return of Kilmer Abrego Garcia to the United States,” Booker said. “There is no room for debate — yet Trump is refusing, in defiance of a lawful court order.”

New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim was even more blunt.

“Trump choosing to not secure the return of Mr. Garcia to the United States blatantly ignores the rule of law and is an intentional decision to descend our nation into a constitutional crisis,” Kim said in a statement.

Trump officials are expected to testify about their lack of response to the Supreme Court order in the coming days. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said they will continue to fight Abrego Garcia’s return and he expects the case to ultimately go back to the Supreme Court.