Following Supreme Court Ruling, Elfreth, Colleagues Demand Trump White House Immediately Return Maryland Man Deported in ‘Error’

WASHINGTON, DC- Today, Representatives Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Steny Hoyer (MD-05), Kweisi Mfume (MD-07), Glenn Ivey (MD-04), April McClain Delaney (MD-06) and Johnny Olszewski (MD-02)released the following statement following the ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States ruling that the Trump Administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland immigrant the Administration deported in 'error' to a Salvadorian mega-prison where he remains:

"The Trump Administration admitted that the deportation of Mr. Abrego Garcia, which had no legal basis, was done in 'administrative error,' and a federal district judge ordered them to return him to the United States by midnight this Monday. Rather than bring back the man they admitted they wrongfully deported without Due Process, the Trump Administration amazingly placed on leave the Justice Department attorney who argued the case simply for telling the truth about the Administration's 'administrative error.'

"In a big victory for the rule of law and Due Process, the Supreme Court has just ruled that the Administration must facilitate Mr. Abrego Garcia's return to the United States. The Supreme Court is effectively on the side of the vast majority of Americans and the civilized world who reject this lapse into lawlessness and insist that Mr. Abrego Garcia be returned to his family in the U.S. immediately. The Administration must now act swiftly to ensure that Mr. Abrego Garcia, who was grabbed off the streets of Maryland, shackled, and flown to a Salvadoran mega-prison, is brought back home safely to his loved ones and without any further delay.

"During the first Trump Administration in 2019, Kilmar won withholding of removal, a legal status that specifically prohibits his removal to El Salvador. He was granted this status after the administration accused him, without any evidence, of gang membership and tried to deport him. A judge found instead that he had credibly proven his fear of persecution by a gangin El Salvador and that he posed no threat to public safety.

"The Trump Administration admits it made an 'error' deporting Mr. Abrego Garcia. Contrary to what administration officials say, President Trump has both the duty and the power to bring this man back to Maryland to his American wife and child.

"We say to the president that, if you have the means to sweep someone off the street in America and deport him to a torturer's prison in El Salvador, where we are paying their government as our junior partner for this dubious service, then you certainly have or you can find the means to bring him back. This should be easy since the El Salvadoran government is acting as our agent in the affair as part of this shocking agreement with the Trump Administration.

"If Trump is allowed to get away with this thorough destruction of Due Process in Mr. Abrego Garcia's case, he will believe that his administration can sweep anyone-citizen or noncitizen-off the street and ship them to a prison in an authoritarian state and escape judicial review. A whole lot rests on the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia to his family."

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