CONGRESSMAN GARCIA ADVOCATES FOR RETURN OF ‘MS-13 GANG MEMBER’

During a press conference held in front of Long Beach City Hall on Tuesday, April 22, United States Congressman Robert Garcia, who represents the district of Long Beach, announced that he is pushing for the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Ábrego Garcia, who was deported back to his country of birth El Salvador, last month.

The announcement from the U.S. Congressman came after an independent visit to El Salvador on April 21, where Rep. Garcia, along with other Democratic Representatives – Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine E. Dexter of Oregon – attempted to have a meeting with Ábrego Garcia.

During his press conference in Long Beach, Rep. Garcia referred to what happened to Ábrego Garcia as a “constitutional crisis.”

“I think the entire country has to be courageous and stand up in this moment and demand that this cannot happen,” Garcia said from a lectern outside Long Beach City Hall. “Kilmar’s return is more than just about immigration. This is not just an immigration story. This is a human rights story. This is a story about our Constitution, and we have to be really strong.”

Garcia and his fellow Democrats said during the press conference that they were denied by the Salvadoran Government to meet with Ábrego Garcia, but did meet with William H. Duncan, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, along with attorneys, activists and family members at the embassy in San Salvador.

After Rep. Garcia’s press conference, citizens went to message boards and Facebook posts to express their opinions on the subject, online. Some believing the government must fix the error and bring Kilmar Ábrego Garcia back to the U.S. While others disagree and believe Ábrego Garcia shouldn’t return at all.

“If you don’t come into this country with Due Process, you don’t get to leave with Due Process,” said Facebook user Tony.

Another Facebook user named Nancy commented, “Please get that poor young man back and the others that are there wrongfully. You can’t just scoop and then say oops once they in the camps.”

Currently, the Trump administration have stated that they have no intentions of facilitating in Ábrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., despite a unanimous ruling from the Supreme Court calling Ábrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador as illegal. The Trump administration alleges that Ábrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador because he is a member of MS-13, an international criminal gang and U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

The Trump administration have also stated that, even if they were to try and facilitate Ábrego Garcia’s return, the U.S. has no legal jurisdiction over the government of El Salvador. The Salvadoran government and its president, Nayib Bukele, have also stated they currently have no intentions of returning Ábrego Garcia back into U.S. custody.

Moving forward, Garcia and his fellow Democrats stated that they won’t rule out returning to El Salvador to visit Ábrego Garcia again. Other members of Congress, such as Sen. Cory Booker, have also announced plans to travel to El Salvador, as well as members from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

“We’re going to continue to go down there, apply pressure, go to the courts, protest, show up and do everything we can until he is released,” Garcia said.

Kilmar Ábrego García illegally immigrated to the U.S. in 2011, and was first arrested in 2019, but was granted withholding of removal by an immigration judge, stating that Ábrego García would likely be persecuted by local gangs in El Salvador. Despite this, he was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, and imprisoned at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in Tecoluca (CECOT). He currently contests the administration’s accusations of him being a member of MS-13.

On April 18, 2025, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with Ábrego Garcia in El Salvador, saying that Ábrego Garcia told him that he had since been transferred from CECOT to a detention facility called Centro Industrial in Santa Ana, El Salvador.