WASHINGTON — Following El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s visit to the White House Monday, Democratic lawmakers condemned the Trump administration for its unwillingness to return wrongfully deported migrants held at a Central American mega-prison.
During a meeting at the Oval Office, Bukele told President Donald Trump he will not return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the meeting it was out of the United States’ hands despite a Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration is required to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia.
“It is imperative that we keep our country safe by detaining and deporting criminal gang members illegally in the United States, but how we do so matters,“ Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said in a statement following the meeting between the two presidents.
“Disregarding the rule of law, ignoring unanimous rulings by the Supreme Court and subjecting individuals to detention and deportation without due process makes us less safe as a country,” she said.
Trump has also floated taking up Bukele on his offer to imprison U.S. citizens, telling Bukele on Monday “home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”
“Donald Trump wants the threat of a death sentence in El Salvador to loom over everyone and anyone who stands up to him,” New York Rep. Yvette Clarke said. “That’s why his administration is waging a war on due process. That’s why he’s so eager to deport Americans to a foreign gulag. This evil was always his plan.”
On March 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took Abrego Garcia into custody, claiming he was a member of the violent MS-13 gang. A native of El Salvador who came to the United States when he was 16, the now-29-year-old Abrego Garcia was living under temporary protected status in Maryland at the time he was deported and sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
The Trump administration has since admitted Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error” but said the U.S. government lacked the authority to bring him back from El Salvador. On Monday, Bukele asked, “How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it.”
While a lower court ruled the Trump administration needed to return Garcia to the United States one week ago, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts paused the decision before it took effect to give the court more time to consider the issues.
A separate ruling by the Supreme Court last week allowed the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act to continue but said those who are labeled as alien enemies must be given the chance to challenge their deportations before being forced out of the country.
In her statement, Shaheen cited a report that 75% of the 220-plus migrants sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center do not have a criminal record.
“I call on the Trump Administration to immediately take steps to comply with the Supreme Court’s order to facilitate the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia, among others, to the United States and to urge it to also seek the release from CECOT of all migrants deported by the Administration with no credible criminal record,” she said.
Shaheen demanded the Trump Administration provide the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with all written agreements it has with the Salvadoran government about U.S. deportee detentions.
In a separate letter to the Trump Administration Monday, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., condemned Trump for unlawfully invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants.
“Our immigration laws can already hold gang members accountable and provide for their deportation,” the letter said. “The government should not be able to falsely accuse individuals in the United States, including U.S. citizens, of gang membership and send them to foreign prisons without any judicial review or remedy.”
The letter was signed by 14 other lawmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.; and Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
After the White House meeting, New York Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced a bill that would require the federal government to take escalating diplomatic actions against a country refusing to return a wrongfully deported person.
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