PHOENIX, Ariz. — Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari says she plans to travel to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported to a prison in the country despite a U.S. Supreme Court order.
Ansari, a Democrat representing Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, said in a statement Wednesday that she believes Abrego Garcia was unlawfully deported during former President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be home in Maryland right now,” Ansari said. “I refuse to sit back and watch it happen here, too. That’s why I plan to join my colleagues in traveling to El Salvador to visit Mr. Garcia and make sure Trump’s war on our Constitution and due process stops here.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in the United States for about 14 years after fleeing gang violence in El Salvador. In March, he was deported based on a 2019 claim by a Maryland police department that he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang—allegations he was never formally charged with, according to the Associated Press.
A Supreme Court ruling ordered the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., but officials have resisted doing so, prompting concern from lawmakers and legal experts.
Ansari compared the situation to the authoritarian regime her own family fled in Iran.
“His illegal abduction and the subsequent complete dismissal of the Supreme Court ruling is deeply disturbing,” she said. “Our rights shouldn’t be revoked to propagate Trump’s authoritarian agenda.”
She also cited Trump’s recent statements about considering deportations of U.S. citizens.
“He’s already said that he’s ready and willing to illegally deport ‘home-growns’ and American citizens,” Ansari said. “If this can happen to Mr. Garcia, it can happen to any of us.”
Ansari, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, said the case represents a “constitutional crisis” and urged federal officials to comply with the court’s ruling.
