Four House Democrats traveled to El Salvador on Monday to press for the release of a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported there last month, and to demand updates on him and other migrants who are imprisoned there.
The visit was the latest bid by Democrats in Congress to amplify the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man whom Trump administration officials have admitted to erroneously sending back to his home country, and the hundreds of other immigrants the administration has hastily deported in violation of federal judges’ orders to allow them a chance to challenge their treatment.
Representatives Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine E. Dexter of Oregon met with William H. Duncan, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, at the embassy in San Salvador on Monday morning. They urged the ambassador to raise the issue with Salvadoran officials and to press for transparency about Mr. Abrego Garcia’s detention, which they argued contravened both judicial orders by American judges and international norms.
The lawmakers said they had not been permitted by Salvadoran officials to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia themselves.
After their meeting, a U.S. Embassy official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the lawmakers’ concerns had been relayed to the Salvadoran government. The members of Congress also raised the case of Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a Venezuelan makeup artist who was detained for months in California and was among those deported from the United States last month.
The official said it was the first time the embassy had raised questions to President Nayib Bukele’s administration about the treatment of more than 250 Venezuelan migrants now being held in Salvadoran custody.
At a news conference after the meeting, the Democrats denounced the Trump administration’s failure to comply with court orders, including a Supreme Court decision instructing the administration to take steps to facilitate Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States.
“We left that meeting with absolutely zero indication that this administration is going to facilitate, or wants to facilitate, the return of Abrego Garcia back to the United States so he can go through due process,” Mr. Frost told reporters.
Members of the group also said they were there to ascertain whether Mr. Abrego Garcia was in good health and actually being held where officials have said he is, as well as to ensure that the American public would continue focusing on the Trump administration’s refusal to bring back Mr. Abrego Garcia.
The lawmakers’ visit follows that of Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, who traveled to El Salvador last week. After two days of resistance from Mr. Bukele’s government, Salvadoran officials allowed Mr. Van Hollen to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia face to face, delivering him unexpectedly to the senator’s hotel for a meeting that appeared staged to emphasize how well he was being treated.
Mr. Abrego Garcia, who was born in El Salvador and entered the United States illegally in 2012, had been living in Maryland with his wife and their three children when he was detained last month and deported. He was sent to El Salvador along with more than 200 other detainees the U.S. government accused of having ties to the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs.
Mr. Abrego Garcia had been arrested in 2019, but a judge ordered that he not be deported to El Salvador after determining that he would face grave danger there. After his deportation on March 15, a federal judge in Maryland ordered his return to the United States, and the Supreme Court unanimously said on April 10 that the Trump administration should facilitate his return.
While the Trump administration initially said that Mr. Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by mistake, it has since insisted his deportation was lawful and appropriate. Officials have also said that he is no longer in American custody and that it is up to Mr. Bukele to return him.
Last week, Mr. Van Hollen said that Mr. Abrego Garcia had recently been transferred out of a prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center. On Sunday, the Justice Department filed an update in federal court saying that Mr. Abrego Garcia had been moved to a detention facility called Centro Industrial in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
The visiting members of Congress had hoped for their own meeting with Mr. Abrego Garcia but said they had been denied access on the grounds that they had not come as part of an official visit. They complained of a lack of cooperation and information from both American and Salvadoran officials and called on officials to produce the incarceration contract between the Trump administration and El Salvador under which the country is holding U.S. deportees in its prison system.
As Republicans seek to paint Democrats as unreasonably sympathetic to the cause of immigrants deported and jailed in Central America, the lawmakers sought to shift the focus to the administration’s efforts to circumvent the law and court rulings in its deportation efforts.
“We got to be clear: This isn’t just about him,” Mr. Frost said, referring to Mr. Abrego Garcia. “This is also about every single person in the United States. The Constitution applies to all people in our country. Due process applies to all people in our country.”
The Democrats also said they will hold meetings with human rights groups as they also request status updates on other deportees.
In an interview, Ms. Dexter, who said the administration was paying Mr. Bukele to hold the men under “the guise” that they were criminals, asked: “Where are they? Are they healthy?”
A New York Times investigation found that a majority of the 238 Venezuelan men flown to El Salvador last month as part of the same operation that swept up Mr. Abrego Garcia did not have criminal records. Many had been detained on evidence such as tattoos or clothing that authorities said symbolized gang membership.
Among the Venezuelans was Mr. Hernandez, the makeup artist, whose family said he identifies as gay, and who appears to have been held at the border on the basis of his tattoos.
“This is our plea to the embassy here to confirm that he is alive,” said Representative Garcia adding that the lawmakers had asked that they or his lawyers see him.
Representative Ansari said deportations like Mr. Abrego Garcia’s were relevant to many immigrants in her state, including Afghan refugees who might face deportation orders.
“We need Kilmar to come home,” she told reporters at the news conference, “but we are also concerned that if this is allowed to fly, that the Trump administration will be emboldened to continue.”
Michael Gold contributed reporting.
