House Democrats land in El Salvador to push for return of Kilmar Ábrego García

A delegation of four House Democrats has arrived in El Salvador to push for the release of Kilmar Ábrego García, part of a mission to challenge the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with a supreme court order to facilitate the return of the immigrant to the United States.

Representatives Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California touched down in Central America on Sunday, following a visit by the Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen last week. The lawmakers are seeking to meet with Ábrego García, who had lived in the US for more than a decade before being swept up in a 15 March operation.

“Even with all of the illegal actions we’ve seen over the last couple of months, I think this is the one that terrifies me the most when it comes to the future of our democracy,” Ansari told the Associated Press in an interview.

According to a congressional aide familiar with the arrangements, the delegation will meet with officials at the US embassy on Tuesday morning to advocate for Ábrego García’s release and ask about other individuals transferred from the US who are currently detained in El Salvador. The lawmakers will also receive classified briefings during their visit.

The case has become a flashpoint in the ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and the supreme court, which ruled that the government had a duty to help return Ábrego García. Justice department lawyers have argued that they lack the power to secure his release from foreign custody.

Garcia, the representative from California, said that Ábrego García deserved due process.

“They’re trying to demonize him, and we’re not here to defend him. He deserves due process, and everyone deserves due process,” Garcia told the AP. “What he did or may have done, that has to be decided by a judge.”

Ábrego García, who had protected legal status that should have prevented his deportation, was sent to El Salvador on a plane carrying alleged immigrant gang members. He is currently being held in a prison in El Salvador after being moved from the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), which has drawn praise from Republican lawmakers but criticism from human rights advocates for inhumane conditions.

The Trump administration admitted in court filings that “an administrative error” led to Ábrego García’s deportation to El Salvador – despite a 2019 immigration judge’s order protecting him – but the same officials say they will not return him to his American wife and disabled child in Maryland.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt has defended the deportation, claiming Ábrego García was involved in human trafficking and terrorism, and said that if he were to return to the US, “he would immediately be deported again”.

But the controversy has even drawn criticism from some Republicans, with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana acknowledging on NBC’s Meet the Press that “the administration won’t admit it. But this was a screw-up.”

As minority party members in both chambers of Congress, Democrats have limited leverage over the administration but are still determined on maintaining public pressure. Ansari indicated that more Democratic lawmakers plan to visit El Salvador in the coming weeks, saying: “This is about the future of our democracy and the future of due process as American citizens.”

Ábrego GarcÍa’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said in a statement on Monday that the lawmakers’ visit “sends a powerful message”.

“We’re deeply grateful to the members of Congress and advocates for justice now on the ground in El Salvador, building on the leadership of Senator Van Hollen,” she said in the statement, according to NBC News.

During a news conference from El Salvador on Monday afternoon, Frost told reporters that “due process applies to all people in our country”.

“We demand the release of Ábrego García,” Frost said. “We’re also worried about our own constituents.”

Frost added that the representatives had requested to see Ábrego García on Monday but that the request was denied by the Salvadorian government as it was not an official trip.

Ansari added that the delegation met with the US embassy in El Salvador on Monday morning, and that they didn’t hear anything that gave her reason “to believe that the Trump administration is doing anything to facilitate his safe return home”.

“And that is simply unacceptable,” she said, noting that they had just sent a letter to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “demanding daily proof of life” from Ábrego García, that he has access to counsel, and that the administration return him to the US.

Ansari said that this “isn’t just about Kilmar, it is the fact that our government is relentlessly going after any immigrants trying to come to the US, or in in US, without any regard for due process”.

“They have not been convicted of a crime, they should not be imprisoned here,” she said.