Rep. Robert Garcia on El Salvador trip to demand Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California said he and other lawmakers “made some good progress” on the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during a recent trip to El Salvador.

Rep. Garcia traveled to the country to get information on Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant whom the Trump administration wrongly sent to a Salvadoran prison last month.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. The Trump administration said it deported him because he was a member of MS-13; his lawyers denied that Abrego Garcia belongs to the gang.

“We think we've actually made some good progress,” Rep. Garcia said, without detailing the specific progress he said was made. “When we met with the U.S. ambassador in both classified briefings and some other conversations, where we made the case, we're very clear about our intentions to continue the pressure.”

You were not able to meet with Abrego Garcia. What were you hoping to achieve?

“It’s really important that people here in the United States, but also in El Salvador, understand that Donald Trump is defying a 9-0 unanimous decision by the Supreme Court to return Kilmar [Abrego Garcia] back to the United States.

“Lower courts have affirmed this, as you said, they have admitted, the administration, that this was a mistake. And Trump defied the Supreme Court is at this moment a constitutional crisis in the making. We are in an incredibly serious moment where you have a president defying a Supreme Court order, and that's bigger than just Kilmar or an immigration issue.

"This is about due process that every person in the United States deserves due process under the Constitution, regardless of whether they are a citizen, a temporary resident, a student on a visa. Everyone deserves that right, and that is being right now taken apart. And so, we were there to advocate for Kilmar and for others as well.”

Were you able to make progress in securing his release?

“We think we've actually made some good progress. When we met with the U.S. ambassador in both classified briefings and some other conversations, where we made the case, we're very clear about our intentions to continue the pressure.

"We had a great response from the media and the community in El Salvador, including meeting with human rights activists on the ground, lawyers that were working on many cases there, and of course also talked to Abrego Garcia's family. We were there actually with the lawyer for the family who was there also with Sen. [Chris] Van Hollen, and so we made some good progress not just on Kilmar but also on other cases."

Were you able to see the mega prison?

"We were denied that request, and I think what people need to know is that it has been only Republicans in the House that have been granted official congressional delegations to El Salvador and CECOT, the major prison that is there as well.

"No Democrats have received approval by the House Republican majority, which is wrong and shameful, and we're grateful that, Sen. Van Hollen was able to do a wellness check on him, but House Republicans allowing Republicans to go down there and go to the prison and other spaces are not allowing Democrats to do the same thing, and people need to know that as well.  And we've heard a lot about this mega prison and the human rights standards there."

This interview was edited for clarity.

Kalyani Saxena produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Peter O'Dowd. Michael Scotto adapted it for the web.