Mother of arrested Salvadoran lawyer says daughter is innocent and calls for her release
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — The mother of a human rights lawyer arrested in El Salvador said Tuesday she was able to see and speak with her daughter more than 24 hours after her arrest and declared her daughter's innocence in what critics say was government retaliation for her work.
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News24
an hour ago
- News24
Salvadoran at the heart of row over Trump's deportation policies arrested on return to the US
The Salvadoran migrant at the heart of a row over President Donald Trump's hardline deportation policies was returned to the United States on Friday and arrested on human smuggling charges. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was brought back to the United States from El Salvador and charged with trafficking undocumented migrants, Attorney General Pam Bondi said. "Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice," Bondi said at a press conference. The US Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia after he was mistakenly deported in March to a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador. But Bondi insisted to reporters that his return to the United States resulted from an arrest warrant presented to Salvadoran authorities. "We're grateful to (Salvadoran) President (Nayib) Bukele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges," she said. In a post on X, Bukele said "we work with the Trump administration, and if they request the return of a gang member to face charges, of course we wouldn't refuse." Trump, in remarks to reporters Friday, described Abrego Garcia as a "pretty bad guy" and said he "should've never had to be returned." White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson said Abrego Garcia's return "has nothing to do with his original deportation." "There was no mistake," Jackson said on X. "He's returning because a new investigation has revealed crimes SO HEINOUS, committed in the US, that only the American Justice System could hold him fully accountable." Abrego Garcia, 29, was living in the eastern state of Maryland until he became one of more than 200 people sent to a prison in El Salvador as part of Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants. Most of the migrants who were summarily deported were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organisation. 'Administrative error' Justice Department lawyers later admitted that Abrego Garcia - who is married to a US citizen - was wrongly deported due to an "administrative error." Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country. Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, one of Abrego Garcia's attorneys, said the government had returned him to the United States "not to correct their error but to prosecute him." "Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "This is an abuse of power, not justice." Bondi alleged that Abrego Garcia had "played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring" and was a smuggler of "children and women" as well as members of the Salvadoran gang MS-13. She said Abrego Garcia, who was indicted by a grand jury in Tennessee, would be returned to El Salvador upon completion of any prison sentence. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen visited Abrego Garcia in April in El Salvador and welcomed his return to the United States. "For months the Trump Administration flouted the Supreme Court and our Constitution," the senator from Maryland said in a statement. "Today, they appear to have finally relented to our demands for compliance with court orders and with the due process rights afforded to everyone in the United States," he said. "The Administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along." According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia was involved in smuggling undocumented migrants from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and other countries into the United States between 2016 and earlier this year.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Van Hollen on Abrego Garcia's return to US: ‘A victory for the Constitution'
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) celebrated the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported and detained in El Salvador's CECOT prison, calling it 'a victory' for the rule of law. The Trump administration doubled down on the deportation, accusing Abrego Garcia, who illegally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 but was later protected from removal to his home country, of having gang ties. His legal team has denied these allegations and urged for his return to the U.S. On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi, after months of fighting against Abrego Garcia's return in court, announced that he was transported back to U.S. soil to face criminal charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. 'This is a victory for due process. It's a victory for the Constitution. It should not have taken this long. I mean … the Trump administration dragged its feet for a very long time and ignored a 9 to 0 order from the Supreme Court,' Van Hollen said during a Friday appearance on MSNBC. 'But it's important that Abrego Garcia now come home and have his due process rights upheld in a court of law,' he added. The Maryland lawmaker visited Abrego Garcia while he was detained overseas to check on his well being and champion his release from El Salvadoran custody, which White House officials originally said would never happen. Van Hollen on Friday said that the court battle Abrego Garcia will now face should have been launched prior to his removal. 'If they're now going to take this case into the courts, as they should have, you know, from the beginning, before they just took him off the streets of Maryland and deposited him in a gulag in El Salvador, then that is — that is the due process that we've been fighting for,' he said. 'And, again, not just for his case, but for others. And — and I think that Americans understand that everybody deserves to have their rights, you know, respected. That's what the Constitution is for.' Abrego Garcia's attorney said on Friday that the criminal case is just another attempt to persecute his client. 'This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice,' attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg previously told The Hill in a statement. 'The government should put him on trial, yes—but in front of the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, which is the ordinary manner of doing things, 'to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,' as the Supreme Court ordered.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Attorney for mistakenly deported man talks to Erin Burnett
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