More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia's behalf

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More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia's behalf

2025-04-22 08:22 Last Updated At：08:31

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Four House Democrats have traveled to El Salvador to call attention to the plight of a man the Trump administration deported to a Salvadoran prison and has refused to help return — even after the Supreme Court ruled that it was the government's duty to do so.

Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California arrived Sunday in the Central American nation to investigate the condition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had lived in the United States for more than a decade. The Trump administration deported him, a move that administration officials have said in court filings was done in error.

But despite a Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to help facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, the administration has said it has no power to bring him back, a position being scrutinized by federal courts as potentially in violation of judicial rulings.

In a news conference Monday in El Salvador's capital, the Democratic representatives and Abrego Garcia's lawyer said they were in El Salvador “demanding his safe return home." The group said they hoped to continue to pressure authorities for his release, and that their petition to meet with Abrego Garcia was denied.

"Part of what the Trump administration does is they do so much that they try to make sure people forget — forget about them breaking the law, forget about them completely ignoring the Supreme Court," Frost said. “We’re not going to be the last members of Congress and senators that are here to make sure that he’s released and that our country is following our laws.”

The quartet’s trip comes after Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland traveled to El Salvador last week and met with Abrego Garcia and Salvadoran officials. Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland with his wife and three children, who are American citizens, before he was deported on March 15.

Abrego Garcia's protected legal status prohibited him from being deported to El Salvador. He was deported on one of three planes filled with migrants accused of being gang members.

Frost said the four representatives were in El Salvador to “build off the work” of Van Hollen and that they were inquiring about where Abrego Garcia was being held and under what conditions.

Chris Newman, a lawyer representing the deportee, added that his primary concerns was Abrego Garcia's access to counsel.

“We know nothing of Mr. Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts since the staged photo op on Thursday with Senator Van Hollen,” Newman said. "We demand to immediately know where he is and to have access to him."

The White House press office issued a statement Monday that said the past week “has shown Americans everything they need to know about Democrats’ priorities.”

The White House accused the representatives of "picking up their party’s mantle of prioritizing a deported illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member over the Americans they represent.”

Rep. Garcia said he and Frost sent a letter last week to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., requesting that an official delegation go to El Salvador to investigate Abrego Garcia's condition and push for his return, but received no response. Ansari said more Democrats would be traveling to El Salvador in the coming days and weeks.

Justice Department lawyers said in court last week that they have no power to advance Abrego Garcia’s return because he is in a foreign country’s custody. Administration officials also claimed in public comments that Abrego Garcia was engaged in human trafficking and terrorism and therefore correctly deported. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that if Abrego Garcia were to return to the U.S., “he would immediately be deported again.”

Van Hollen unsuccessfully lobbied the Salvadoran government for Abrego Garcia's return. He told NBC's “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the United States is facing a constitutional crisis if the Trump administration does not follow the Supreme Court's order to push to bring Abrego Garcia back.

It's a warning Democrats are increasingly amplifying. Rather than debate President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policy or the merits of the administration's invocation of national security to carry out deportations, Democratic lawmakers are zeroing in on the issue of due process, with some noting that the Supreme Court and lower court federal judges found Abrego Garcia was deported without a proper hearing.

Ansari said she finds it “extremely alarming” that Trump officials seem to have no regard for due process.

“Even with all of the illegal actions we’ve seen over the last couple of months, I think this is the one that terrifies me the most when it comes to the future of our democracy," she said in an interview.

Similar concerns were echoed by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote in the court’s ruling in Abrego Garcia’s case: “The government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene."

Several House Republicans have visited El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, the prison where Abergo Garcia is being held, and lauded the facility for what they view as El Salvador's tough-on-crime policies. Republican senators and governors have defended Abrego Garcia's detention as part of a broader crackdown on illegal immigration. But at least one Republican senator called his deportation a mistake.

“The administration won’t admit it. But this was a screw-up,” said Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, on NBC's “Meet the Press.”

During a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office, Trump remarked that “homegrown” lawbreakers should be deported to prisons in the Central American country and urged Bukele to “build about five more places” like the notorious penitentiary where Abrego Garcia is being held.

Congressional Republicans have so far shown little interest in negotiating the dispute between the president and the judiciary. Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress, have little leverage to pressure the White House. But Abrego Garcia's case has become both an alarming and galvanizing case inside the party.

Democrats "have the power to draw attention to this issue, to keep the pressure up," Ansari said. "That’s why you know some of us are going, and so many members will be going. Because this is about the future of our democracy and the future of due process as American citizens.”

Brown reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.

The Latest: Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz is out in first major shakeup

2025-05-02 00:17 Last Updated At：00:22

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is set to depart the Trump administration. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter, which marks the first major staff shakeup of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Here's the latest:

U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. is the first judge to rule that the Alien Enemies Act cannot be used against people whom the Republican administration claims are gang members invading the United States.

“Neither the Court nor the parties question that the Executive Branch can direct the detention and removal of aliens who engage in criminal activity in the United States,” Rodriguez wrote Thursday. But, he said, “the President’s invocation of the AEA through the Proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute’s terms.”

In March, Trump issued a proclamation claiming the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was invading the U.S. He said he had special powers to deport immigrants, identified by his administration as gang members, without the usual court proceedings.

The Alien Enemies Act has only been used three times before in U.S. history, most recently during World War II, when it was cited to intern Japanese-Americans.

The proclamation triggered a flurry of litigation as the administration tried to ship migrants it claimed were gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Rodriguez’s ruling is significant because it is the first formal permanent injunction against the administration using the AEA and contends the president is misusing the law.

For the second time in recent months, the Food and Drug Administration is bringing back some recently fired employees, including staffers who handle travel bookings for safety inspectors.

More than 20 of the agency’s roughly 60 travel staff will be reinstated, according to two FDA staffers notified of the plan this week, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters.

Food scientists who test samples for bacteria and study potentially harmful chemicals also have been told they will get their jobs back, but have yet to receive any official confirmation.

The reversals are the latest example of the haphazard approach to cuts at the agency, which have shrunk FDA’s staff by an estimated 20%. In February, the FDA laid off about 700 provisional employees, including food and medical device reviewers, only to rehire many of them within days.

— Matthew Perrone

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz is set to depart the Trump administration.

That’s according to two people familiar with the matter, which marks the first major staff shakeup of President Trump’s second term.

A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, has also targeted Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.

Waltz’s deputy, Alex Wong, is also expected to depart, according to the people. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel move not yet made public. The National Security Council did not respond do a request for comment.

▶ Read more about Mike Waltz leaving the Trump administration

— Zeke Miller, Aamer Madhani and Seung Min Kim

“It was a good conversation,” Sheinbaum said during her daily news briefing. “Even though there wasn’t a specific agreement, the important thing is that we’re working on it.”

Sheinbaum, who said she and Trump spoke for 10 to 15 minutes Thursday morning, noted that the Trump administration had relaxed some of the tariffs on automobiles and auto parts this week, but said Mexico is still looking for a better deal for the automotive sector, as well as for steel and aluminum which face their own U.S. tariffs.

The U.S. is looking to reduce its trade deficit with Mexico, she said, noting that Mexico was working to find ways to help them do that.

The leaders agreed that their cabinet secretaries would continue negotiating.

“It is a good sign that we continue advancing,” she said.

French union leaders condemned the “Trumpization” of world politics, while in Italy, May Day protesters paraded a puppet of the American president through the streets of Turin.

Across continents, hundreds of thousands turned out for Thursday’s rallies marking International Workers’ Day, many united in anger over President Trump’s agenda — from aggressive tariffs stoking fears of global economic turmoil to immigration crackdowns.

In the United States, organizers framed this year’s protests as a pushback against what they called a sweeping assault on labor protections, diversity initiatives and federal employees.

In Germany, union leaders warned that extended workdays and rising anti-immigrant sentiment were dismantling labor protections. In Bern, Switzerland, thousands marched behind banners denouncing fascism and war — part of a wider backlash against the global surge of hard-right politics.

▶ Read more about May Day marches around the world

President Trump will travel to heavily Republican Alabama on Thursday to speak to graduating students at the University of Alabama, where he’s expected to draw some protesters despite enjoying a deep well of support in the state.

Trump’s evening remarks in Tuscaloosa will be the Republican president’s first address to graduates in his second term and will come as he’s been celebrating the first 100 days of his administration.

The White House did not offer any details about Trump’s planned message.

Alabama, where Trump won a commanding 64% of the vote in 2024, is where he’s staged a number of his trademark large rallies over the past decade. It also is where Trump showed early signs of strength in his first presidential campaign when he began filling stadiums for his rallies.

▶ Read more about Trump’s planned trip to Alabama

Administration officials say they’re seeking a permanent home at the State Department for a memorial honoring fallen staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The memorial bears the names of 99 USAID and other foreign assistance workers killed in the line of duty around the world.

The Trump administration has dismantled USAID and terminated most of its programs and staff, accusing its humanitarian and development work of being wasteful and out of line with Trump’s agenda. Past presidents since John F. Kennedy argued that working for a more stable and prosperous world benefited U.S. security.

The State Department says workers removed the memorial from the former USAID headquarters Wednesday. It’s being held in a temporary location, the agency said.

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller says former Vice President Kamala Harris’ criticism of Trump are a “great reminder to the American people of just how blessed we all are that the leader sitting in the Oval Office today is President Donald Trump and not President Kamala Harris.”

“It would have been the end of America,” Miller said at a briefing with reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Harris said in a speech Wednesday night that Trump’s tariffs are “clearly inviting a recession.”

Miller countered that, “The only things Americans want to hear from Kamala Harris is an apology” for less strict immigration policies and enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border, which he said was “unforgivable.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added, “I think I speak for everyone at the White House, we encourage Kamala Harris to continue going out and do speaking engagements.”

The planned negotiations between Iran and the United States this weekend over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program have been postponed, Oman announced Thursday.

A message online from Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi made the announcement in a post on the social media platform X.

“For logistical reasons we are rescheduling the US Iran meeting provisionally planned for Saturday May 3rd,” he wrote. “New dates will be announced when mutually agreed.”

Al-Busaidi did not elaborate. Iran and the U.S. did not immediately acknowledge al-Busaidi’s comments.

The talks Saturday were to be held in Rome.

▶ Read more about nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran

A top White House official is defending Trump’s acknowledgement that steep tariffs on China might lead to fewer goods on the shelves at higher prices.

Trump said children maybe “will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple bucks more than they would normally.”

Deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller insisted Thursday that the president was “making the point that I think almost every American consumer agrees with.”

In a briefing with reporters, Miller said dolls made in the U.S. had higher quality standards than ones from China that he said could contain lead paint.

“Yes, you’d probably be willing to pay more for a better-made American product,” Miller said.

China’s state broadcaster has claimed in a social media post that the Trump administration has been seeking contact with Beijing through multiple channels to start negotiations over tariffs.

In a climbdown, the post by China Central Television says there’s no need for China to talk with the U.S. before the U.S. takes any substantive act but also said “there is no harm” for contact.

“China needs to observe or even force out the true intent on the U.S. side to stay proactive in the talks,” reads the post.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said she also understands “it’s getting close” for talks between the two sides but such talks will be at the working level, not yet between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

There’s trouble as House Republicans race to build Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, especially over its trillions in costs and potential Medicaid changes.

Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, tax writing committee chairman Rep. Jason Smith and the chairman handling health programs, Brett Guthrie, are meeting with Trump.

Trump’s administration released a lengthy review of transgender health care Thursday that advocates for a greater reliance on behavioral therapy rather than broad gender-affirming medical care for youths with gender dysmorphia.

The Health and Human Services report questions standards for the treatment of transgender youth issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and is likely to be used to bolster the government’s abrupt shift in how to care for a subset of the population that has become a political lightning rod.

This new “best practices” report is in response to an executive order Trump issued days into his second term that says the federal government must not support gender transitions for anyone under age 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

▶ Read more about the Trump administration’s stance on transgender health care

After months of tense negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal that’s expected to give Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources, an agreement Kyiv hopes will secure long-term support for its defense against Russia.

According to Ukrainian officials, the version of the deal signed Wednesday is far more beneficial to Ukraine than previous versions, which they said reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources.

The deal covers minerals, including rare earth elements, but also other valuable resources, including oil and natural gas, according to the text released by Ukraine’s government.

It doesn’t include resources that are already a source of revenue for the Ukrainian state. In other words, any profits under the deal are dependent on the success of new investments. Ukrainian officials have also noted that it doesn’t refer to any debt obligations for Kyiv, meaning profits from the fund will likely not go toward the paying the U.S. back for its previous support.

▶ Read more about the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal

To understand the Justice Department’s struggles in representing President Trump’s positions in court, look no further than a succession of losses last week that dealt a setback to the administration’s agenda.

In orders spanning different courthouses, judges blocked a White House plan to add a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, ruled the Republican administration violated a settlement agreement by deporting a man to El Salvador and halted directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

That’s on top of arguments in which two judges expressed misgivings to a Justice Department lawyer about the legality of Trump executive orders targeting major law firms and a department lawyer’s accidental filing of an internal memo in court questioning the Trump administration’s legal strategy to kill Manhattan’s congestion toll — a blunder the Transportation Department called “legal malpractice.”

▶ Read more about the Justice Department’s courtroom losses

Consumers can expect higher prices and delivery delays when the Trump administration ends a duty-free exemption on low-value imports from China Friday.

The expiration of the so-called de minimis rule that has allowed as many as 4 million low-value parcels to come into the U.S. every day — mostly from China — is also forcing businesses that have built their models on sourcing production in China to rethink their practices in order to keep their costs down.

But some might actually benefit from the termination of the duty exemption. For instance, companies that make their goods in the U.S. may feel relief from the competition of cheap Chinese imports, and likely experience a brighter sales outlook.

The move, which applies to goods originating from mainland China and Hong Kong, comes on top of President Donald Trump’s new tariffs totaling 145% on China. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs of 125% on the U.S., fueling a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Sellers are already seeing cautious consumers.

▶ Read more about the end to the de minimis rule

Former Vice President Kamala Harris used a high-profile speech to sharply criticize Trump amid speculation about whether she will mount another presidential campaign or opt to run for California governor.

In her most extensive public remarks since leaving office in January following her defeat to Trump, Harris said Wednesday she’s inspired by Americans fighting Trump’s agenda despite threats to their freedom or livelihood.

Before Wednesday, Harris had barely mentioned Trump by name since she conceded defeat to him in November.

In a 15-minute speech, she spoke to the anxiety and confusion that have gripped many of her supporters since Trump took office but discouraged despair.

Trump went after Harris in a campaign-style rally Tuesday marking his 100th day in office. He sarcastically called her a “great border czar” and a “great candidate,” and repeated some of the applause lines he routinely delivered during the campaign.

▶ Read more about Harris’ remarks

Senate Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic resolution Wednesday that would have blocked global tariffs announced by Trump earlier this month, giving the president a modest win as lawmakers in both parties have remained skeptical of his trade agenda.

The 49-49 vote came weeks after the Senate approved a resolution that would have thwarted Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada. That measure passed 51-48 with the votes of four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky. But McConnell — who has been sharply critical of the tariffs but had not said how he would vote — and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse were absent Wednesday, denying Democrats the votes for passage.

▶ Read more about the vote and resolution