WASHINGTON — Democratic Congress members say they plan to visit the prison in El Salvador where Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported last month.

On Wednesday, Congressional Hispanic Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said he planned to immediately send a letter to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele formally asking for Garcia’s release and to arrange a visit.

What You Need To Know

  • The Congressional Hispanic Caucus plans to send a letter to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to formally ask for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

  • Last month, Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador

  • This week, the Supreme Court temporarily paused a lower court's decision ordering Garcia's return to the United States

  • Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., said the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Garcia's family plan to visit the El Salvador prison

“The family has not heard from him for over 25 days, so we don’t know his condition,” Espaillat said during a news conference with Garcia’s wife, mother and brother. “The family deserves to know his condition, and if they don’t tell us, we will visit the prison ourselves.”

On March 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took Garcia into custody, claiming he was a member of the violent MS-13 gang. A native of El Salvador who came to the United States when he was 16, the 29-year-old Garcia was living under temporary protected status in Maryland at the time he was deported and sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. 

The White House has since admitted Garcia’s deportation was an administrative error but said the U.S. government lacked the authority to bring him back from El Salvador. While a lower court ruled the Trump administration needed to return Garcia to the United States this week, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts paused that decision on Monday to give the court more time to consider the issues.

“Kilmar, if you can hear me, I’m still fighting for you,” Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said Wednesday. “Your brother, your mother, your children are still fighting for you, but we’re not going to give up hope. To the Supreme Court justice, do the right thing. History will always remember you.”

A separate ruling by the Supreme Court this week allowed the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act to continue but said those who are labeled alien enemies must be given the chance to challenge their deportations before being forced out of the country.

Garcia was “whisked off without any due process and is now in a torturous and treacherous jail in El Salvador,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday. “This is something that is so reprehensible that we will fight back in the court, and we will fight back in Congress and fight back in our communities.”

Bukele will visit Washington on Monday. Espaillat said if he has not received a response to his letter by then, he will ask Bukele in person about Garcia’s status and visiting the prison where he’s being held.