Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Can you repeat that? We just started the live stream.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Can we repeat what?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Just start from the top.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Okay. I'm going to start again with… So I just met with the vice president of El Salvador. I'm grateful for the meeting. The president is out of the country at this time, so I appreciated the chance to talk to the vice president about the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And we started the conversation on a point of agreement, which is that our two countries should work together to crack down on transnational gangs like MS-13. And I told the vice president that for over two decades, I have worked in my state of Maryland to crack down on MS-13, and look forward to further efforts to make sure that we crack down on violent gangs. I think that's important to underscore because the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia does not have to do with MS-13.
(02:09)
If you listen to President Trump and the Trump administration, you would think that the US courts have found that Mr. Abrego Garcia is part of MS-13, but in fact, they have not found that. In fact, recently a US federal court judge said that the Trump administration did not have evidence to support the claim that he had ever been part of MS-13. In fact, Mr. Abrego Garcia is legally in the United States. In fact, an immigration judge found years ago that it would put his life in danger if he was returned to El Salvador, and so he was given protective status and a work permit. And by the way, that was done during the last Trump administration, the last time President Trump was in office, and they never appealed that decision.
(04:09)
So I want to emphasize that President Trump and our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the Vice President of the United States are lying when they say that Abrego Garcia has been charged with a crime or is part of MS-13. That is a lie, and this is a lie to cover up what they did. So what did they do? So they illegally abducted Abrego Garcia from Maryland and sent him to CECOT, which is a notorious prison here in El Salvador. In fact, it's a prison where they say they send the worst of the worst, right? That's where they send the terrorists.
(05:36)
Now, the courts of the United States have said there's no evidence to support the charge that he's part of MS-13, so I asked the vice president whether or not El Salvador has any evidence that he's part of MS-13 or has committed a crime. So I asked the vice president, if Abrego Garcia has not committed a crime and the US courts have found that he was illegally taken for the United States and the government of El Salvador has no evidence that he was part of MS-13, why is El Salvador continuing to hold him in CECOT? And his answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT.
(07:11)
And I pointed out that neither the government of El Salvador nor the Trump administration has presented evidence to support the claim that he's committed any kind of criminal acts, and so why not release Abrego Garcia today? And he said what President Bukele said the other day at the White House, which that El Salvador can't smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States. And I said, "I'm not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States. I'm simply asking him to open the door of CECOT and let this innocent man walk out." And I pointed out that the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, has said that the United States would send a plane to El Salvador to pick him up. And why did she do that? Because the Supreme Court of the United States, in a ruling of nine to zero, has said that the Trump administration has to facilitate his return to the United States.
(09:29)
Now, there's no evidence that the Trump administration is complying with that order. There's no evidence that they're complying with that order. In fact, the United States Embassy here has told me they've received no direction from the Trump administration to help facilitate his release. So the Trump administration is clearly in violation of American court orders.
(10:18)
But that still leaves the question, why is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man where they have no evidence he's committed any crime and they've not been provided any evidence from the United States that he's committed a crime? So they should just let him go, and they should let him go, and we will find a way to get him from San Salvador to Maryland, the state of Maryland, because I promised his wife, his wife Jennifer, and his mother and his brother, and their family because he has three children. Some of them have severe disabilities. I promised them that I would do everything I could to get him out of CECOT. And I won't stop trying, and I can assure the president and the vice president that I may be the first United States senator to visit El Salvador on this issue, but there will be more and there will be more members of Congress coming. This is an unsustainable and unjust moment, so it cannot continue this way.
(12:26)
I also told his wife and family that I would try to meet with Abrego Garcia while I was here, so I asked the vice president if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia. And he said, "Well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT." I said, "I'm not interested at this moment in taking a tour of CECOT. I just want to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia." He said that he was not able to make that happen. I asked. He said he needed a little more time. I asked him if I came back next week, whether I'd be able to see Mr. Abrego Garcia. He said he couldn't promise that either.
(13:53)
So I asked him if I could get on the phone, either a video phone or just a phone, and talk to Mr. Abrego Garcia so I could just ask him how he's doing so I could report back to his family. He said he could not arrange that. He said maybe if the American Embassy were to ask, maybe that could happen. So I will certainly ask the American Embassy to ask the government of El Salvador to connect us by phone. I asked him, "How about his family? How can he talk to his wife so that she can hear his voice?" I let him know that the family has requested that. He said he was not sure whether he could make that happen.
(15:17)
So we have an unjust situation here. The Trump administration is lying about Abrego Garcia. The American courts have looked at the facts. In fact, the Trump administration lawyer, the government lawyer, admitted to the court that Mr. Abrego Garcia had been mistakenly taken in administrative error, that it was a mistake. But instead of fixing the problem and addressing that injustice, do you know what the Trump administration did? They put that lawyer, who's a fifteen-year veteran of the Department of Justice, on administrative leave and berated, berated that lawyer who told the truth to the judge.
(16:54)
So I want to just close by reading you what the judge said. This is a federal district court judge, the district of Maryland. And I am quoting from Judge Zinnis here. "As defendants acknowledge," and the defendants here are the government or the Trump administration, "they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador, let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere." The judge went on to say, and I quote, "Having confessed grievous error, the defendants," and again, that's the government, that's the Trump administration, "having confessed grievous error, they now argue that this court lacks the power to hear the case and that the court lacks the power to order Abrego Garcia's return."
(18:31)
So a US district court judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring him home. The United States Supreme Court, by nine to nothing vote, has ordered the administration to facilitate his return. So the Trump administration needs to obey the law, but I'm also asking the government of El Salvador and the president and vice president of El Salvador not to keep a man who was illegally abducted from the United States and charged with no crime to remain in CECOT when as a sovereign country, they have the power to let him go and let him go now, and I hope they will. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (19:57):
Are you concerned whether Mr. Abrego Garcia is still alive?
Speaker 1 (20:01):
I don't know about his health status. That's exactly why I wanted to meet with him directly, that's why I wanted to talk to him on the phone, that's why I want to arrange a phone call with his wife. I mean, this is a notorious prison. And the family, this is a guy, again, he just disappeared off the streets of Maryland, he ends up in… I'm sorry.
(20:34)
This is why I wanted to see him. I also want to say to everybody here, you may know in the state of Maryland, we have a very wonderful robust Salvadorian population, and they contribute greatly to our state.
Translator (20:48):
Is it a confrontation from the Bukele administration to the United States of America?
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Well, I'm asking President Bukele to, under his authority as President of El Salvador, to do the right thing and allow Mr. Abrego Garcia to walk out of a prison, a man who's charged with no crime, convicted of no crime, and who was illegally abducted from the United States.
Speaker 5 (21:37):
Do you maintain any hope that you'll be able to leave with Kilmar?
Speaker 1 (21:54):
I'm going to keep pressing. You want to…
(22:00)
I will keep pressing in my remaining time here and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.
Translator (22:07):
Do you think that you can undertake, or what other activity are you going to undertake to make sure you know that you can have the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia?
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Well, I would say that as a member of Congress, we'd like to work to have good relations between the people of the United States and the people of El Salvador, and…
Speaker 2 (22:51):
It says on the livestream, the question was, "What more can Congress do?"
Speaker 1 (22:56):
And that's why we need to make sure that we keep working to secure justice, because Congress has a very important role to play in the relationship between the United States and the people of El Salvador.
(23:20)
And so for example, the Trump administration is reportedly going to pay the government of El Salvador up to $15 million to house people sent from the United States.
Translator (23:36):
15?
Speaker 1 (23:37):
15 Million. 15 million.
(23:52)
And I don't think there are going to be a lot of members of Congress that will clearly be unwilling to spend money to keep people like Kilmar Garcia in CECOT because, again, he was illegally abducted from the United States and charged with no crime. So why should the taxpayers of the United States pay the government of El Salvador to lock up a man who was illegally abducted from the United States and committed no crime?
(24:51)
Okay.
(24:51)
Thank you all very much. [foreign language 00:24:53].
Speaker 6 (24:52):
[foreign language 00:24:53].
