A lawmaker is organizing a third trip to El Salvador to see the mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, as Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) heads to the Central American nation with the hopes of visiting his constituent.<\/p>\n
Ivey is pushing to meet not just with Abrego Garcia but others he says are being wrongly imprisoned in the country without any judicial review.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to go to see if we can move this thing forward, trying to get Kilmar back, trying to get the Trump administration to comply with the Supreme Court order,\u201d Ivey said during an interview with The Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The high court determined that the Trump administration must \u201cfacilitate<\/a>\u201d Abrego Garcia\u2019s return. But the White House has not done so<\/a>, arguing the order means they need to send a plane should the government of El Salvador seek to return him. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has said he\u00a0will not<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe administration still hasn’t complied, and we got to keep the pressure on,\u201d Ivey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ivey is pushing to meet not just with Abrego Garcia, who has since been placed in a lower security prison, but also others being held in the country\u2019s terrorism confinement center, the notorious prison known as CECOT for its acronym in Spanish.<\/p>\n Having fled his native El Salvador as a teen due to gang violence, Abrego Garcia was protected by an immigration judge\u00a0in 2019\u00a0from being deported\u00a0to the country.<\/p>\n But Abrego Garcia is among a group of roughly 200 Venezuelan and Salvadoran men brought to El Salvador through flights<\/a> on March 15. A Justice Department attorney later said he was removed<\/a> due to an \u201cadministrative error.\u201d<\/p>\n While Abrego Garcia\u2019s removal gained attention due to the administration\u2019s mistake, Ivey said others are also facing life imprisonment abroad when it’s unclear what crimes they are being accused of and without getting a chance to challenge the Trump administration’s claims.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens with these guys who haven’t been convicted of anything, anywhere, but they’re in a prison system that never lets people out? Because it really could turn into a life without parole for people who haven’t been convicted of anything,\u201d Ivey said.<\/p>\n A review by the Cato Institute found that of the 90 men imprisoned in the country for whom information on their immigration status was available,\u00a050 came to the U.S. through legal pathways<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court has also weighed in on that matter, both stepping in to halt additional flights and determining that those removed must have sufficient notice and opportunity to challenge their removal.<\/p>\n Ivey\u2019s trip is the third organized visit seeking to verify the well-being of Abrego Garcia.<\/p>\n