21-04-2025
US Congress members visit El Salvador to facilitate release of deported man
FILE PHOTO: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in the U.S. legally with a work permit and was erroneously deported to El Salvador, is seen wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, in this handout image obtained by Reuters on April 9, 2025. Abrego Garcia Family/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
U.S. Representative candidate Yassamin Ansari speaks during Harris-Walz Campaign Rally by Arizona Democratic Party at Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. November 4, 2024. REUTERS/Go Nakamura/File Photo
Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA) speaks as he is joined by fellow House members Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and TikTok creators during a press conference to voice their opposition to the 'Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,\" pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo
U.S. Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL) addresses the Michigan Democratic Party People's Town Hall in Warren, Michigan, U.S., March 29, 2025. REUTERS /Rebecca Cook/File Photo
Four Democratic U.S. representatives arrived in El Salvador on Monday hoping to compel the Trump administration to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and now held in a notorious prison in that country.
U.S. Representatives Maxwell Frost of Florida, Robert Garcia of California, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon are in El Salvador to facilitate Garcia's return to the United States, they said in a statement.
"Donald Trump and his administration are running a government-funded kidnapping program – illegally arresting, jailing, and deporting innocent people with zero due process," Frost said in the statement.
The U.S. government sent Abrego Garcia, 29, to El Salvador on March 15 despite an order protecting him from deportation to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia left El Salvador at age 16 to escape gang-related violence, his lawyers said. He has never been charged with or convicted of any crime.
The U.S. Supreme Court directed the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, after Washington acknowledged he was deported to El Salvador due to an administrative error. The Trump administration says Abrego Garcia belongs to the criminal gang MS-13, but his lawyers have denied the allegation.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the administration's actions in an interview with Fox News on Monday.
Asked if the administration made a mistake sending Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, she said: "We did not make a mistake. We have always maintained that this was an individual who needed to be deported from our country."
Last week, Chris Van Hollen, the U.S. senator from Maryland, where Abrego Garcia lived, went to El Salvador and met with Abrego Garcia, also calling for his release. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
