US senators 'demand' immediate return of Marylander wrongly deported to El Salvador

Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun on Apr 8, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Maryland’s U.S. senators issued a demand to the Trump administration on Tuesday to immediately return a Maryland man erroneously deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

The letter called it “unacceptable” that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia remains in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador after the administration conceded it made an “administrative error” by deporting him.

“We demand that the Administration bring Mr. Abrego Garcia home immediately,” said the letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons.

“When the Administration makes a mistake as severe as sending an individual with protected status to a foreign prison, it cannot simply shrug off responsibility and allege that there is nothing it can do to reunite him with his wife and child, who are American citizens,” the letter said.

It was signed by Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and 23 other senators, all Democrats.

Republicans have alleged Abrego Garcia was a member of a gang. “Well it turns out that that person was probably an MS-13 gang member,” Maryland Republican Rep. Andy Harris said during a recent telephone town hall.

The senators’ letter said gang members had been trying to recruit Abrego Garcia and his brother, “forcing his family to move multiple times, ultimately compelling both him and his brother to flee to the United States out of fear.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily paused a federal judge’s order that gave the Trump administration until the end of Monday to retrieve Abrego Garcia.

“We welcome this stay from the Supreme Court as we continue to fight this case and protect the executive branch from judicial overreach,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said of the high court’s decision.

The stay, signed by Chief Justice John Roberts, spared the Trump administration the threat of contempt charges for at least another day should they fail to return Abrego Garcia from El Salvador.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered last week, and reaffirmed Sunday, that the Trump administration must “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Abrego Garcia, 29, to the United States by 11:59 p.m. Monday.

The Prince George’s County resident was deported last month due to what the government has described as an “administrative error.”

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