Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen is vowing to travel to El Salvador to negotiate the release of a wrongly deported man after the Trump administration ignored a Supreme Court ruling to facilitate his return to the U.S.
In a letter sent to the El Salvadorian Ambassador on April 13 before Trump’s tête-à-tête with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Van Hollen requested a meeting with Bukele during his U.S. visit to discuss “the illegal detention of [his] constituent, Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” after the Supreme Court agreed on Thursday to unanimously uphold U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s ruling that he was wrongly deported and that the U.S. government was responsible for bringing him home.
(It’s unclear if Van Hollen ever got to meet with Bukele.)
Two members of House Democratic leadership are trying to send an official congressional delegation to the El Salvadorian prison where the Trump administration is sending deportees, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Dozens of House Democrats have privately expressed interest in participating in such a trip to protest the Trump administration’s deportation policies, sources tell Axios.
But while lawmakers could travel to the Central American country informally, a Republican committee chair’s approval is needed to send an official congressional delegation, or CODEL.
A CODEL would provide the members with crucial oversight powers and security resources.
The wife of Kilmar Garcia, a man who was deported from Maryland to his native El Salvador in March 14, has spoken out publicly to ask that he be returned to the US and their family. A GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign has raised over $165,000. What Jenniefer Vasquez did not mention, however, is that she petitioned for a domestic violence protective order against him in 2021.
Revealing the information about the protective order in a post, Andy Ngo said “The wife of deported suspected gang terrorist Kilmar Abrego Garcia either lied to the court when she petitioned for a domestic violence protective order against him or she is lying now on the GoFundMe claiming he is an excellent husband as over $162K has poured in.” The case detail shows that it was brought by Vasquez against Garcia in May 2021 for domestic violence. The case has since been closed. Garcia has been referred to by many media outlets as a “Maryland man” or “Maryland dad.”
Per The Chesepeake Today, “Jennifer Vasquez filed for a protective order due to domestic violence from her husband on May 13, 2021, and a final order was issued on June 17, 2021, by Prince George’s County District Court Judge LaKeecia Allen. Judge Allen was elevated to the Circuit Court on Aug. 1, 2024, by Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Judge Allen previously served as a prosecutor in the Prince George’s State’s Attorney’s Office.”
In a press conference, Vasquez said “I will not stop fighting until I see my husband alive.” She spoke directly to Garcia, saying “stay strong. God has not forgotten about you.” She said she was “pleading with the Trump administration and the Bukele administration to stop playing political games with the life of Kilmar.” Their children, she said, miss their father. “I hope that the strength of faith and the resilience within us will keep us standing after all the punches we continue to receive. Our ability to fight back against these governments are testimonies to the fight and strength that God has given us.”
Democrat lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are reportedly planning trips to El Salvador to seek the release of an alleged MS-13 gang member and bring him back to the United States where he lived illegally from 2012 until March 2025.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was among the hundreds of illegal immigrants—a large percentage of them MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang members—deported to El Salvador last month under the Alien Enemies Act.
On Monday, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) reportedly sent a letter to El Salvador’s ambassador to the United States asking for a meeting with the President Nayib Bukele while he was in Washington D.C.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Armando Bukele told reporters during a meeting with President Donald Trump later in the day that he “of course” would not “smuggle” Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into the United States.
A federal judge in Virginia has granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) request to dismiss a gun charge against a Salvadoran national whom Trump administration officials have called a senior leader of the notorious MS-13 transnational gang—clearing the way for his possible swift deportation.
In a minute order issued on April 15, U.S. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick approved the DOJ’s motion to dismiss the criminal complaint against 24-year-old Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos but delayed entry of the order until 10 a.m. on April 18 to give his defense attorney time to explore potential legal avenues to prevent his transfer into immigration custody.
The dismissal comes just weeks after Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a press conference that Santos is “one of the top three” MS-13 leaders in the United States and that he would not be “living in our country much longer.” President Donald Trump also weighed in, calling the arrest a major victory in his administration’s campaign to crack down on foreign gangs that pose a threat to American communities.
Federal prosecutors filed only a single charge against Santos—possession of a firearm by an illegal immigrant—after an FBI SWAT team raided his family home in Woodbridge, Virginia, on March 27. According to the affidavit, investigators found multiple firearms and “indicia of MS-13 association” in his bedroom, but no gang-related charges were ever filed.
El Salvadoran President Nayib Armando Bukele said Monday that he has no intention of returning alleged MS-13 gang member Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
Garcia, 29, was among the hundreds of illegal immigrants—a large percentage of them MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang members —expelled from the U.S. to El Salvador last month.
The Trump administration acknowledged in court records that it made an “administrative error” when it deported Garcia without an interview, but has insisted that he has no legal status in the United States.
Garcia crossed the border illegally in 2012 and after he was detained in 2019, claimed he had to flee El Salvador as a teenager to escape gang violence. Both the original immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals found there was sufficient evidence that Garcia was a member of MS-13 and, as such, a danger to the public.
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from revoking legal status and work permits for over 530,000 illegal aliens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee, ruled Monday that the Trump administration cannot terminate the legal status of the migrants “without case-by-case review.”
The Biden administration program allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be flown directly into the interior of the U.S. and granted work authorization. The program was intended to provide “safe and orderly pathways to the United States” for nationals from the four nations under the category of humanitarian parole.
On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to “Terminate all categorical parole programs,” including the “Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.”
Mohsen Mahdawi holds a green card in the US but was raised in the West Bank until moving to the US in 2014.
Columbia University student activist Mohsen Mahdawi was summoned to a meeting with immigration officials in Vermont on Monday but was instead detained. Mahdawi holds a green card in the US but was raised in the West Bank until moving to the US in 2014.
At that meeting, ICE began the process of deporting Mahdawi to the West Bank. Mahdawi’s lawyer, per The Intercept, said that he was “unlawfully detained for no reason other than his Palestinian identity. He came to this country hoping to be free to speak out about the atrocities he has witnessed, only to be punished for such speech.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has cited a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. Rubio made the comments in regard to the detainment and deportation of former Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, saying that Rubio could determine if Khalil could legally remain in the US.
A leader of the anti-Israel movement at Columbia University in the aftermath of the Hamas terror attack on Israel has been detained by immigration authorities.
Mohsen Mahdawi was summoned to the Colchester, Vermont, office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Monday.
He expected to take a test to become a naturalized citizen. Instead, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested him, according to the Intercept.
Mawdawi had been in the U.S. for 10 years and possesses a green card, according to the report.
“The fight for freedom of Palestine and the fight against antisemitism go hand-in-hand because injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” says Mohsen Mahdawi, co-president of Columbia’s Palestinian Students Union. https://t.co/xh91MwzdHepic.twitter.com/CsBehwMWEc
The most critical issue facing America is an illegal alien gang member being sent back to El Salvador. At least, that’s what Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) act as if the fate of democracy hangs on. I’m sure you, an American, can think of at least five things more important, up to and including it being WrestleMania week. What most likely happened is that a progressive NGO funded by progressive billionaires settled on the gang member to be what progressives have to care about this week, and CNN said, “Sure, we have no self-respect.”
It’s not surprising that CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, when allowed to speak for some reason, would ask about the Democrat talking point du jour. Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien under a deportation order who had been staying in Maryland. He was removed and sent back to El Salvador. Democrats and CNN want him brought back to America. Collins asked Trump why he is being so mean.
Trump, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Marco Rubio, Pam Bondi, and Stephen Miller all took turns responding. They ran out of time for JD Vance to have his turn, so he shared his thoughts on Twitter.
In more than 200 sanctuary city, county, and state jurisdictions across the United States, illegal aliens gather where they know they will be protected by local government authorities from deportation, no matter what crime they may commit. They hide in plain sight in any neighborhood: in pockets of ethnic communities among legal, law-abiding immigrants, and in upscale areas if they are working in the lucrative trafficking industrial complex.
A 40-year-old citizen of El Salvador was arrested after he sexually abused a child in Washington, D.C. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) learned of the crime while he was in custody and launched a detainer, which tells city officials to notify ICE when he is released and transfer custody to ICE.
The detainer was ignored. The Salvadoran was released back into the D.C. community without telling ICE, and he reoffended, ICE Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Russell Hott told The Federalist.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Trump administration is serious about this. The students who are causing trouble are being sought out and removed. That’s a good thing.
13 people at UConn have had their visas revoked, university officials say
Twelve international students and one postgraduate at the University of Connecticut have had their visas terminated by the federal government, according to a university spokesperson.
According to the university’s review of Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) records, the federal government has terminated the visas of 13 UConn students as of Monday.
Khalil’s lawyers have until April 23 to request ‘relief’ and halt deportation
President Donald Trump’s administration can deport Mahmoud Khalil, the man who helped lead disruptive pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University over the last year, a U.S. immigration judge ruled Friday.
“The department has met its burden to establish removability by clear and convincing evidence,” Judge Jamee Comans said, according to The New York Times.
Khalil’s case “now moves on to what is known as the ‘relief stage,’ in which his lawyers will be able to argue for his right to stay in the country. If they lose, they can appeal, first to an immigration board and then to a federal court,” the outlet reported.
The judge gave Khalil’s legal team until April 23 to file a request for relief to prevent his deportation, Axios reported.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he would not return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to America.
“The question is preposterous,” said Bukele. “How can I smuggle a terrorist with the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Abrego Garcia belonged to the El Salvadoran MS-13 gang and entered America illegally. He lost his attempts to stay in America through the immigration and asylum system but received removal protection in 2019.
Abrego Garcia had to be removed…except to El Salvador because he feared for his life.
“We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into our country,” continued Bukele. “We just turned the murder capital of the world to the safest country of the western hemisphere and he wants to go back into the releasing criminal so we can go back to being the murdered capital of the world. That’s not going to happen.”
“See, some of them, they don’t even want to go to work and some of them, they’ve taken a high risk. And, definitely, it’s not much to celebrate.”
This year’s Cinco de Mayo Parade in Chicago will not be happening. Organizers announced on Thursday that the event and its related celebrations on the city’s Southwest Side have been called off.
The reason, they say, is fear within the Mexican community due to immigration policies under President Donald Trump’s administration. Organizers said they chose to cancel the event to focus on safety rather than profits, ABC 7 reports.
“Our people are scared,” said Hector Escobar, President of the Casa Puebla & Cermak Road Chamber of Commerce. “See, some of them, they don’t even want to go to work and some of them, they’ve taken a high risk. And, definitely, it’s not much to celebrate.”
Since Trump took office, Chicago, which is a sanctuary city, has become a target for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There has been an increase in deportation activity both in the city and nearby suburbs. That increase has created worry for local businesses in the Little Village neighborhood, where the parade normally begins on Cermak Road.
The Trump DOJ opposed requests in alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s motion for additional relief.
On Friday, US District Judge of the US District Court for the District of Maryland, Paula Xinis set a new hearing in the case of alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia after the Supreme Court ruled the US must facilitate his return from El Salvador.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, photo via Murray Osorio PLLC immigration law firm.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the US to facilitate the return of alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Border Encounters of Unaccompanied Children Fall to Record Low– www.dailysignal.com Source Link Excerpt:
The number of migrant children arriving alone at the southern border reached an all-time low in March.
Border Patrol encountered 631 unaccompanied alien children at the southwest border last month, down 97% from the record high of 18,716 under the administration of then-President Joe Biden in March 2021, according to a senior Department of Homeland Security official.
“March was the lowest number of unaccompanied children arriving at our southern border in recorded history,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told The Daily Signal.
President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “are stopping the exploitation and trafficking of children,” McLaughlin said. “Thanks to strong leadership, we now have the most secure border in American history.”
The U.S. State Department has canceled the work and tourist visas of the members of Mexican corrido group Los Alegres del Barranco after they displayed images of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” during a concert on Saturday (March 29) at an auditorium at the University of Guadalajara.
The propaganda press is once again distorting the truth — and in some cases, flat out lying — to discredit and undermine President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. In the latest example, the media are painting an illegal alien — who is allegedly a gang member — as merely a “Maryland father” with “protected legal status” who was “mistakenly” swept up in a mass deportation.
On Monday, The Atlantic’s Nick Miroff wrote that the Trump administration “mistakenly” sent a “Maryland father with protected legal status” to a Salvadoran prison due to an “administrative error.”
“The case appears to be the first time the Trump administration has admitted to errors when it sent three planeloads of Salvadoran and Venezuelan deportees to El Salvador’s grim ‘Terrorism Confinement Center’ on March 15,” Miroff wrote. He later cited Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorney who, in Miroff’s words, “said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge.”
Oversight Project govt funded NGO training illegals on ICE evasion
Undercover footage obtained by Real Muckraker shows radical government-funded Chinese-American Planning Council conducting a training on how to evade ICE and to keep illegal aliens in the United States.
Chinese-American Planning Council Chief Policy and Public Affairs Officer Carlyn Cowen was caught on undercover video giving ICE evasion training during a radical activist meeting in New York City.
This radical far-left NGO has ties to top New York Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Dan Goldman and Governor Kathy Hochul.
CPC receives over $900,000 in federal funds.
“Number one is hardening your physical space. Number three, identifying a list of individuals that are authorized to respond if ICE comes to the door and then have a clear protocol.
The Border Crossing Numbers That Democrats Don’t Want You to See – PJ Media– pjmedia.com Source Link Excerpt:
In his speech to Congress last month, President Donald Trump called out Joe Biden and the Democrats for falsely claiming that it would take new legislation to secure the border because border crossings went down significantly on Trump’s watch, proving that “all we really needed was a new president.”
Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border dropped once again in March, plummeting to a historic low, with Border Patrol encountering just over 7,000 for the entirety of March.
Border Czar Tom Homan praised Trump’s leadership for achieving a stunning drop in illegal border crossings in a post on X.
“President Trump’s leadership continues to break records! Border Patrol encounters for the month of March were just 7,181 total,” Homan wrote, emphasizing the historic significance of the figures. “I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984, which was 41 years ago. I cannot recall a single month since then that the numbers have been that low.”