As part of Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the eastern state of Maryland before being one of more than 200 people who were placed in El Salvador last month.
The Trump administration has labeled Tren de Aragua, a “foreign terrorist organization,” as the majority of the deportees were alleged members of.
However, Justice Department attorneys later acknowledged that Garcia, who is married to a US citizen, was deported as a result of an “administrative error.”
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen and Garcia met in what appeared to be a dining room on Thursday, and he posted a photo of the photo on X.
“I’ve emailed his wife, Jennifer, to let you know how much you love him.” One of the two Maryland senators, Van Hollen, said, “I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Van Hollen and Garcia’s meeting was mocked by El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele’s office, who also posted images of them saying mockingly, “Now that he has been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
The post featured handshake emojis between the US and El Salvador flags.
According to Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, a reporter from Washington, DC, Garcia’s deportation is receiving a lot of attention in the US because of what is deemed to be “a lack of due process,” adding that a judge had specifically ordered to hold off on the deportation.
A US appeals court on Thursday said it “should be shocking” that Garcia’s government claims it is unable to release him, despite Washington’s opposition to a Supreme Court order to do so.
Without the appearance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order, the court claimed that the government has a right to confine citizens of this nation in foreign prisons.
US President Donald Trump and his Salvadoran counterpart, Bukele, declared they had no basis for bringing Garcia back to the country at a meeting earlier this week at the White House.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Garcia’s wife, claimed in a statement released by a group for advocacy that she had “so many questions, hopes, and fears.”
Partisan flashpoint
Van Hollen’s trip has become a partisan hot button in the US, with Democrats in opposition calling it a cruel consequence of Trump’s disregard for the courts.
Republicans have criticized Democrats for supporting the prisoner, arguing that his deportation is a result of a larger effort to reduce crime.
Garcia has been accused of having ties to the MS-13 gang, according to White House officials, but his attorneys claim that Garcia has never been formally charged with any crime related to this activity.
Source: Aljazeera
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