Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski Monday that the Trump administration kidnapped members of foreign prison gangs, including MS-13 member Abrego Garcia.
“I want to ask you about why you are so focused on the case of [Garcia], why you traveled to El Salvador, and back to the issue of what has happened to all of these people who have been sent to this prison,” Brzezinski said. “What happened to these people? How would you describe it? What’s the term you would use?”
“I would say they were illegally abducted by U.S. government agents and then taken to foreign prisons against the law, “Van Hollen said. “And the reason why it’s important to treat each of these cases individually under the law is because our Constitution requires due process before people can be deprived of their liberty.”
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He added, “In the case of Abrego Garcia, for example, the federal district court judge said that the Trump Administration had provided absolutely no evidence linking him to MS-13, which is why I’ve said they need to put up or shut up in court and not just sort of wage this campaign on social media.”
The Supreme Court temporarily halted the Trump administration’s efforts to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) early Saturday morning, saying those who were slated for deportation had a right to challenge their removal. Van Hollen, who visited adjudicated MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, claimed the Trump administration violated the “due process” rights of the gang members.
The Trump administration released a 13-page dossier detailing the evidence against Abrego Garcia late Wednesday afternoon, which included rulings from immigration courts that found he was a member of the El Salvadoran prison gang. Abrego Garcia was detained in 2022 by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on suspicion of human trafficking but was released at the behest of the Biden administration FBI, according to the Tennessee Star. (Click Here To Watch The Daily Caller Documentary ‘Cartelville, USA’)
President Donald Trump has issued several executive orders to address illegal immigration and border security, including designating Mexican drug cartels, TdA and MS-13 as foreign terrorist organizations upon taking office Jan. 20. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up the deportation of gang members on March 15.
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