Keeping her word, Arizona Congressional District Three House Representative Yassamin Ansari joined other House Democrats (Maxine Dexter, Robert Garcia, and Maxwell Frost) and in flying to El Salvador to check in on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who with many others, was wrongly deported to an El Salvadoran prison last month.
This trip follows the one taken by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who, after some back and forth with the El Salvadorian Government, was able to meet Mr. Garcia.
In her first video post from El Salvador, Representative Ansari said:
“I am here with several of my colleagues to demand that Donald Trump release Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Union member, married, man who was wrongfully detained and deported, has never been convicted of a crime, and who the United States Supreme Court has ruled Nine to zero unanimously the United States must facilitate his return. Last night, I had a town hall in my district where a woman came and said her son, who is Salvadoran. They are scared to travel this summer because what if what happened to Kilmar Garcia happens to them. If there’s not due process for Kilmar, there will be no due process for anyone. We want to make sure that Kilmar is still alive. We want to make sure that he has access to counsel. We want to make sure that the United States does, what it’s supposed to do: follow the Supreme Court of the United States and release him, and we are here fighting for the future of our Democracy.”
During a press conference, Representative Ansari echoed many of the remarks she has made about Mr. Garcia and Trump’s ill advised immigration policies, commenting:
“I am here with my colleagues to demand that Donald Trump facilitate the safe return home for Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The facts of this case are abundantly clear. Mr. Garcia was abducted. He is a father. He is a husband. He’s a union member. His union leadership is advocating for him through the building trade saying that he needs to come home and he was wrongly deported to a foreign prison here in El Salvador and our government has admitted that mistake. The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the land has said his return home must be facilitated by the United States government. So, we are here, today, to demand that he is returned as soon as possible…
“…From what we have heard, there is no reason for me to believe that our administration, the Trump Administration, is doing anything to facilitate his safe, return home, and that is simply unacceptable, against the Constitution, and it defies what we hold so dear in our country and that is due process and the rule of law…”
“…I represent Arizona’s Third District and extremely diverse District, where at our University, 50 foreign students had their visas revoked unexpectedly. We’ve had Afghan refugees who’ve received notice that they need to return home? We have people who have been detained, a veteran, detained, and deported by ICE. A veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. So, this is not just about, Kilmar. We need Kilmar to come home but we are so concerned that if this is allowed to fly that, the Trump Administration will be emboldened to continue…”
On a question from a reporter on that 90 percent of the people deported did not have a criminal record, Ansari responded:
“That is also what why we are here and why we think the situation is so urgent. It is not just about Kilmar. It is about our government relentlessly going after any immigrant that is trying to come into the United States or is in the United States without any regard for due process…If they have not been convicted of a crime, you should not be in prison here…”
In a second individual post from El Salvador, Representative Ansari called the situation with Trump’s defiance of the Supreme Court “a Constitutional Crisis” where it is necessary to keep the pressure on the Musk/Trump/Vance government to release Mr. Garcia and the others Ms. Ansari called attention to, who like Garcia, have been wrongfully deported, saying:
“We also are working on a letter and have made formal requests about other individuals who are wrongfully. Detained here in El Salvador. That includes 19 year old Andre Hernandez Romero. This is a 19-year-old gay artist who was coming legally to the United States through our CBP One App process and because of some of the tattoos that he had, which is absurd was sent to caught to CeCot as well. So there are many people dealing with this. Many people who have been unjustly detained and deported here and we are advocating for all of them. We will continue to keep the pressure on. One of the most important reasons why we’re here is because we know Donald Trump wants the story to die. He wants to be able to ride into the sunset and have defied the Supreme Court and not look back, and we cannot allow that to happen. We have to continue to put the pressure on. I hope other members of Congress come here and see this for themselves, advocate for Kilmar, for Andre, and for others who have been wrongly, detained, and deported…”
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