A delegation of Democrats jumped on the bandwagon and headed to El Salvador Monday to demand that the Trump administration return reputed MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US — as their very own constituents slammed them for grandstanding.
Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona), Maxine Dexter (D-Oregon) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) met with officers on the US embassy within the Central American nation, arguing President Trump illegally deported Abrego Garcia — and defied courtroom orders to deliver him again.
“Trump is illegally arresting, jailing, & deporting people with no due process. We must hold the Administration accountable for these illegal acts and demand Kilmar’s release,” Frost wrote on X upon the group’s arrival.
“Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be anyone else,” he added.
Whereas it’s unclear how precisely the journey was funded, James Comer, the chairman for the Home’s Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform, denied the group’s request to make use of taxpayer funds “to meet with a foreign MS-13 gang member whose wife accused him of crimes and who is strongly suspected of human trafficking.”
The group obtained backlash from fed-up constituents again residence.
One in Arizona wrote on X that she’s “so glad Ansari went and is ignoring her large homeless & veteran population back in CD01,” including that “The people in El Salvador aren’t her constituents.”
One other famous, “How about you do your job in Oregon. Nobody cares what an El Salvador man is doing in an El Salvador prison. This is why you guys lost in November. You learned nothing.”
The journey follows Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-Md.) taxpayer-funded assembly with Abrego Garcia final week.
The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia, 29, to his residence nation final month regardless of a 2019 courtroom order blocking his elimination from the US on account of issues he might face gang retaliation from MS-13 rival Barrio 18.
Abrego Garcia was shipped off with 260 different reputed gangbangers after Trump used the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act to shortly deport the group and not using a listening to.
A number of federal courts, together with the Supreme Courtroom, have informed the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to the US after the revelation that he was deported as the results of a “clerical error.”
Abrego Garcia’s legal professionals argue their shopper has no legal historical past to help his deportation from America.
Justice Division legal professionals have claimed they’re complying with the orders to return Abrego Garcia by eradicating any obstacles current within the US that may stop his return. However they argue they will’t power the Salvadoran authorities to deliver him again.
The Trump administration mentioned Abrego Garcia was engaged in human trafficking after he was pulled over by the Tennessee Freeway Patrol on Dec. 1, 2022, for dashing and located to have eight others within the automotive.
The responding officer suspected human trafficking was concerned as a result of Abrego Garcia and his eight passengers had no baggage regardless of having been on the highway for 3 days touring from Texas to Maryland.
Abrego Garcia informed the officer he was certain for Temple Hills, Maryland, “to bring in people to perform construction work,” in keeping with the memo.
The Salvadoran citizen was let go together with a quotation for driving with an expired license.
Nevertheless it wasn’t his first run-in with the cops.
Abrego Garcia was detained in Maryland in March 2019 after he was discovered hanging out with confirmed MS-13 gangbangers in a Residence Depot car parking zone, in keeping with paperwork launched by the Division of Justice.
A “past proven and reliable source” additionally informed a Hyattsville Metropolis Police Division detective that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13’s Western clique who carried the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele,” in keeping with a gang area interview sheet.
When he was arrested, Abrego Garcia was donning a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie with rolls of money overlaying the eyes, ears and mouths of the presidents on the completely different denominations, which is “indicative of the Hispanic gang culture.”
“Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents that they are a member in good standing with the MS-13,” the police report learn.
He was later taken into ICE custody, however an immigration choose blocked his deportation to El Salvador in October 2019 after figuring out he was vulnerable to retaliation from Barrio 18 ganbangers.
Abrego Garcia was additionally beforehand accused of bodily abusing his spouse Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen who has been fiercely pushing for his return.
The girl requested a Maryland courtroom to grant her a protecting order towards Abrego Garcia in 2021 after he allegedly punched, scratched, grabbed and bruised her, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
His spouse informed The Publish final week that she was merely “acting out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar … in case things escalated” after surviving home abuse “in a previous relationship.”
“Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” she mentioned.
“Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.”
Abrego Garcia’s spouse additionally mentioned that Abrego Garcia’s alleged abuse “is not justification for ICE’s actions of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation.”
