Abrego Garcia told visiting senator he was no longer being held at notorious Salvadoran prison
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported from the United States last month, told a visiting U.S. senator that he was moved from a notorious Salvadoran prison to a detention center with better conditions 바카라 게임 웹사이트 a statement made during a meeting that the American lawmaker said was staged by the Central American country바카라 게임 웹사이트s government to make it look like a retreat.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Friday that the Salvadoran man, who was living in Maryland, told him as they met Thursday that he had shared a cell with 25 prisoners and was fearful of many inmates at the mega-prison known as CECOT before he was moved to another center in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
The senator held an airport press conference after returning to the Washington area from El Salvador. He stood next to Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer, who wiped away tears as Van Hollen shared some of her husband's comments about missing his family.
The senator, however, emphasized repeatedly to reporters that the case transcends the question of Abrego Garcia's immigration status.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Van Hollen said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s very clear that the president, Trump administration are blatantly, flagrantly, disagreeing with, defying the order from the Supreme Court.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The case has become a focal point in the immigration debate. Democrats accuse President Donald Trump of overstepping his executive authority and Republicans are criticizing Democrats for defending a man Trump and White House officials claim is an MS-13 gang member, despite the fact he has not been charged with any gang-related crimes.
More Democrats have said they will fly to El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia's release, but the partisan pressure hasn바카라 게임 웹사이트t yielded any results. President Donald Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele have dug in on keeping him out of the United States, even as officials in Trump's Republican administration have described his deportation as a mistake and the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that Abrego Garcia will 바카라 게임 웹사이트never live in the United States of America again.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Bukele posted images of Van Hollen바카라 게임 웹사이트s meeting with Abrego Garcia on Thursday and said that the prisoner 바카라 게임 웹사이트gets the honor of staying in El Salvador바카라 게임 웹사이트s custody." Van Hollen said a Salvadoran government official placed other beverages on the table with salt or sugar on the rim, to make it look like they were drinking margaritas. Van Hollen said neither he nor Abrego Garcia drank from the glasses, which in the photo Bukele posted were garnished with cherries.
The fight over Abrego Garcia is the latest partisan flashpoint as Democrats have struggled to break through and push back during the opening few months of Trump's second time in office. A federal appeals court said Thursday in a blistering order that the Trump administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s claim that it can바카라 게임 웹사이트t do anything to free Abrego Garcia from the prison in El Salvador and return him to the United States 바카라 게임 웹사이트should be shocking.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Republicans aren't budging
But Republicans appear to have only become more determined to keep Abrego Garcia out of the country. They have sharply criticized Van Hollen바카라 게임 웹사이트s trip and claimed that Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang. His attorneys say the government has provided no evidence of gang involvement and he has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
Democrats 바카라 게임 웹사이트have time and again prioritized politics over the safety and security of Americans,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said in a statement Friday. 바카라 게임 웹사이트It is utterly divorced from reality.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The Democratic senator posted a photo of his meeting with Abrego Garcia on Thursday evening but did not say anything else much except that he had called Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, 바카라 게임 웹사이트to pass on a message of love바카라 게임 웹사이트 and would provide a full update upon his return.
After days of denying that he knew much about Abrego Garcia, Trump on Friday said he knew Abrego Garcia's prison record was 바카라 게임 웹사이트unbelievably bad바카라 게임 웹사이트 and called him an 바카라 게임 웹사이트illegal alien바카라 게임 웹사이트 and a 바카라 게임 웹사이트foreign terrorist.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The president also responded Friday with a social media post saying Van Hollen 바카라 게임 웹사이트looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Lots of Congress members are visiting the prison, or trying
Several House Republicans have visited the notorious gang prison in support of the Trump administration바카라 게임 웹사이트s efforts. Rep. Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, posted Tuesday evening that he바카라 게임 웹사이트d visited the prison where Abrego Garcia is being held. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I leave now even more determined to support President Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s efforts to secure our homeland,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Moore wrote on social media.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials acknowledged in a court filing earlier this month that Abrego Garcia's deportation was an 바카라 게임 웹사이트administrative error.바카라 게임 웹사이트 The government바카라 게임 웹사이트s acknowledgment sparked immediate uproar from immigration advocates, but White House officials have dug in on the allegation that he바카라 게임 웹사이트s a gang member.
The fight has also played out in contentious court filings, with repeated refusals from the government to tell a judge what it plans to do, if anything, to repatriate him. The three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused Thursday to suspend the judge바카라 게임 웹사이트s decision to order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials and said the judiciary will be hurt by the 바카라 게임 웹사이트constant intimations of its illegitimacy바카라 게임 웹사이트 while the executive branch 바카라 게임 웹사이트will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, nominated by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, wrote that he and his two colleagues 바카라 게임 웹사이트cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants 바카라 게임 웹사이트 whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and placed them inside the country바카라 게임 웹사이트s maximum-security gang prison just outside San Salvador.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.