Jayapal Statement on the Unlawful Abduction and Deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Ranking Member of the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, released the following statement regarding the abduction and deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia by the Trump Administration, which has since admitted that he was accidentally picked up due to an ‘administrative error’:

“Whether it is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, Khalil Mahmoud, Alfredo Juarez, Lewelyn Dixon, Fabian Schmidt, Ranjani Srinivasan, or Rebecca Burke, the Trump administration is out of control with indiscriminate, and often illegal actions, in the name of so-called immigration enforcement. They have been disappearing people from their homes in the middle of the night, kidnapping people in the middle of the street, deporting individuals to prison camps, and flagrantly violating people’s human, civil, and due process rights.

“In one of the most jaw-dropping of these cases, Mr. Abrego Garcia, a father who fled gang violence and was granted legal protection in the United States, was mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran gulag. Now, the administration claims they have no legal recourse to remove him from the Cecot mega-prison, a facility that reportedly allows no visits from family, no letters from home, and only lets people out of their cells for 30 minutes a day.

“Even as the administration has admitted this terrible miscarriage of justice, Vice President Vance has continued to go on Twitter and spread false information about the deportation. It is simply outrageous that the administration refuses to require the release of an individual it mistakenly deported even as it pays El Salvador $6 million a year in taxpayer dollars to illegally imprison people in violation of people’s fundamental due process rights.

“Every American should be both deeply concerned about what this means for our country and deeply ashamed of the pain and terror that we are putting innocent people and their families through. This also begs the question of all of us, who will be next? As the administration continues reaching back into the most shameful periods of our country — including the imprisonment of people of Japanese descent during WWII — to find legislative avenues to detain and deport immigrants, we must work to overturn archaic laws like the Alien Enemies Act.

“I will continue demanding for the release of Mr. Abreo Garcia, and all immigrants detained without the due process they deserve.”

Issues: Civil Rights, Immigration