Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., plans to go to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to his native country by the Trump administration, The Hill reported.
“We want to go to see if we can move this thing forward, trying to get Kilmar back, trying to get the Trump administration to comply with the Supreme Court order,” Ivey told The Hill.
In March, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Maryland and deported from the United States after what critics say was an administrative error associating him with the MS-13 criminal gang.
In April, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who is married to a U.S. citizen. The administration has said it is up to the Salvadoran government to decide if it wants to return him.
“The administration still hasn’t complied, and we got to keep the pressure on,” Ivey said.
The expulsion violated a U.S. immigration judge’s order in 2019 that shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to his native country because he faced likely persecution by a local gang that had terrorized his family. A Justice Department attorney acknowledged in court that Garcia was removed because of an “administrative error.”
Last week, a federal judge told the Trump administration that its explanation for invoking the state secrets privilege in the case is inadequate, describing the government’s reasoning for withholding information as “take my word for it.”
Trump administration attorneys have argued that releasing details in open court — or even to the judge in private — about its efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the United States would jeopardize national security.
Trump administration officials have said Abrego Garcia was deported based on a 2019 accusation from Maryland police that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia has denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.
Ivey also aims to meet with others who are facing life imprisonment without knowing what they are accused of and being unable to challenge the Trump administration’s claims, the Hill reported.
“What happens with these guys who haven’t been convicted of anything, anywhere, but they’re in a prison system that never lets people out? Because it really could turn into a life without parole for people who haven’t been convicted of anything,” Ivey told The Hill.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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