Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), and Kilmar Abrego Garcia's attorney Chris Newman hold a press gaggle in San Salvador, El Salvador, on their trip to have Kilmar Abrego Garcia freed and returned to the U.S.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Okay, so I'm going to start in just a minute. I'm going to say some remarks in English.
00:08We're all going to say a few remarks, and then I'm going to say some remarks in Spanish,
00:11in Espanol, and then we'll open up for any questions. Does that work?
00:15Okay. Well, first of all, thank you all for being here. My name is Robert Garcia. I'm a member of
00:21Congress from California, a Democrat. I'm here with three other members of Congress,
00:26Congress members Maxwell Frost, Congress members Ansari and Dexter, as well as Chris Nelson?
00:35Newman.
00:36Chris Newman, who is the lawyer for the Abrego Garcia family. And so we're very grateful to be here,
00:42and we're grateful that Mr. Newman's here with us as well. We'll all go and say some brief remarks.
00:46So we're here in El Salvador demanding the release of Kilmer Abrego Garcia. We think it's incredibly
00:53important that the law in the United States is followed. Our Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision,
01:01to be clear, has said that Mr. Abrego Garcia should be returned to the United States.
01:08That's been affirmed by other courts in the U.S., and we also want to be clear that the Trump
01:14administration has admitted publicly that he was sent here by mistake.
01:20So the administration has said that he was here by mistake. The Supreme Court has said bring him back
01:27to the United States, and that's what we're here to do. We're grateful of Senator Van Hollen's work
01:32leading up to this moment, but we're here to ensure that he is safe, that he's brought home.
01:38And we've had meetings this morning with the U.S. Embassy and the team here on the ground.
01:43We're having additional meetings here with human rights groups that are here on the ground
01:48and other individuals. We've also spoken to the Abrego Garcia family and had a briefing from the
01:54family, and we want to be just very clear that he needs to come home. This is about due process.
02:00Every person, even if they're an immigrant, a migrant to the U.S., seek an asylum, they're on some type of
02:08temporary status. They deserve a day in court and due process, and that's why we're here to ensure
02:13that the President of the United States follows the orders of the Supreme Court.
02:19With that, I'm going to turn this over to Congressman Frost.
02:21Thank you, Robert.
02:23Well, look, Robert said why we're here, and we're here because we believe that the rule of law should
02:28be followed by everyone, including the President of the United States. And we're in a situation
02:33where the administration has sent someone here to El Salvador by mistake, admitted to it.
02:41A Supreme Court decision has come down to say you need to facilitate the return of this man
02:46back to the United States so he can go through due process. And the administration is saying,
02:51no, we're not going to do it. In fact, we just had a meeting earlier today with the embassy,
02:56and we left that meeting with absolutely zero indication that this administration is going
03:04to facilitate or wants to facilitate the return of Borrego Garcia back to the United States so
03:09he can go through due process. But we've got to be clear, this isn't just about him. This
03:14is also about every single person in the United States. The Constitution applies to all people
03:19in our country. Due process applies to all people in our country. It's one of the things that sets
03:24our country apart from other places across the entire world. And so we're worried, of course,
03:29we demand the release of Borrego Garcia, but we're also worried about our own constituents. We
03:33represent people across the entire nation. I'm from Orlando, Florida, a community filled with
03:39immigrants, a diverse community. And we're getting hundreds and hundreds of calls, people saying,
03:45go to El Salvador, do something, do something about the fact that the President of the United States
03:50in the Oval Office is talking about sending U.S. citizens here to El Salvador to the prison here.
03:59And so we don't want to wait till things get worse. We're here to build off of the work of Senator
04:05Van Hollen, who heroically came down here and showed his family and the world for the first time since he
04:12was taken down here that he is alive, that he was alive, and he was well at that time. And so what we
04:18want to know is where is he at now? What is his condition now? His family deserves to know,
04:25the people deserve to know, but we're also here to make a statement that this cannot be allowed and
04:30isn't allowed in our country. And people should know we're not the first here, we're not going to
04:36be the last members of Congress to be here in El Salvador fighting and demanding the return of
04:41Abrego Garcia, and a lot of the folks who were sent here without due process at all. It is one of the
04:47core tenets of our country and our Constitution, and we're going to fight like hell to make sure
04:51he comes back home to have due process there, but that this doesn't happen to anybody else. And with
04:57that, I'll pass it over to Rep. Ansari.
04:59Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Congresswoman Yasemin Ansari. I represent Phoenix, Arizona. I am here with
05:05my colleagues to demand that Donald Trump facilitate the safe return home for Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
05:12The facts of this case are abundantly clear. Mr. Garcia was abducted. He is a father. He is a
05:19husband. He's a union member. His union leadership is advocating for him through the building trade,
05:25saying that he needs to come home. And he was wrongly deported here to a foreign prison in El
05:30Salvador. And our government has admitted that mistake. The Supreme Court of the United States,
05:35the highest court in the land, has said his return home must be facilitated by the United States
05:42government. So we are here today to demand that he is returned as soon as possible. We had a meeting
05:47this morning with the embassy here in El Salvador. And from what we have heard, there is no reason for
05:54me to believe that our administration, the Trump administration, is doing anything to facilitate
05:59his safe return home. And that is simply unacceptable. It's against the Constitution.
06:04And it defies what we hold so dear in our country, which is due process and the rule of law.
06:10And as my colleagues have said, there are so many others. I represent Arizona's third district,
06:15an extremely diverse district, where at our university, 50 foreign students had their visas revoked
06:21unexpectedly. We have Afghan refugees who've received notice that they need to return home. We have people
06:27who have been detained, a veteran, detained and deported by ICE, a veteran who served two tours
06:33in Afghanistan. So this is not just about Kilmar. We need Kilmar to come home. But we are so concerned
06:40that if this is allowed to fly, that the Trump administration will be emboldened to continue.
06:46And since we were not able to get the answers we need today from the embassy, we have written a letter
06:51just as of 30 minutes ago to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, demanding daily proof of life for Mr.
06:57Obrego Garcia, demanding he sees he has access to counsel, and of course, finally demanding his safe return
07:04home. And we will not stop until this is complete. And with that, I will hand it over to my colleague,
07:09Rep. Maxine Dexter.
07:12Thank you. So I am Congresswoman Maxine Dexter from Oregon's third congressional district. I am very proud to represent
07:19the city of Portland. And the city of Portland and the people in the surrounding areas have made it clear.
07:25They want me here fighting for the rule of law, fighting for their constitutional right to due process.
07:32They are scared. They want to make sure that we use our power that they have given us to stand up for
07:40Mr. Obrego Garcia and everyone else who has been denied their constitutional right. I am a mother.
07:48The idea that Kilmar was detained from in front of his five-year-old son is heartbreaking to me.
07:57I am a physician. I take care of people. Democrats, Republicans, it doesn't matter. I take care of
08:03people. And that is what we are not doing. We are not as a country protecting the health and welfare of
08:09people and their rights under the Constitution. And it is incumbent upon me as a leader and as an elected
08:16representative to stand up for the rule of law. And with that, I will turn it over, speaking of the rule of law,
08:22to Mr. Chris Newman, the legal counsel for the family of Obrego Garcia.
08:27Good afternoon. My name is Chris Newman. I am from California and here I represent the
08:39family of the family of Kilmar in the United States.
08:45It's hard to speak in Spanish, so I'm going to say my things in English first and then I'm going to
08:52speak in Spanish. My name is Chris Newman. I am a Los Angeles-based lawyer. I am here today on behalf
09:01of Kilmar Obrego Garcia's family and as their legal counsel to demand his access to rights.
09:09I came here to El Salvador and I should say first and foremost, I want to thank the congressional
09:14delegation standing behind me for their bravery, for their leadership and for their action in coming
09:21down here despite the uncertainty to try to liberate Mr. Obrego Garcia. I came here with three distinct
09:29goals in mind. Number one, to ensure that Mr. Obrego Garcia is in fact alive today. Number two,
09:37to make sure that he is healthy and safe. And then number three, to ensure that he has access to
09:42counsel and to his family as is required by international law. We know nothing of Mr. Obrego
09:51Garcia's whereabouts since the staged photo op on Thursday with Senator Von Holland. We demand to
09:58immediately know where he is and to have access to him. Unfortunately, we are no longer able to trust
10:06the representations about this case made either by the United States government or by the Salvadoran
10:11government. And indeed, this case is about many things, but above all, it is about truth versus lies.
10:20And there have been a lot of mistruths that have been told about Mr. Obrego Garcia and his family,
10:24a lot of defamation coming from the highest office in our country and the most powerful office in the
10:30world. And I am grateful to all of you, the reporters here in El Salvador, for coming to help us excavate
10:38the truth of this case. And the truth is that Mr. Obrego is an innocent man who has been deprived of his
10:44basic human rights. Antes de todo, yo quiero agradecer a todos los congresistas para venir aquÃ. Y en
10:54particular, yo quiero decir gracias para su liderazgo, su coraje y su acción en viniendo a los Estados Unidos a
11:02que solucionando para liberar al señor Obrego GarcÃa. Yo, como abogado de la familia del señor Obrego
11:10GarcÃa, vengo aquà con tres metas. Uno, para una prueba que sà está vivo ahorita. Dos, que su bienestar
11:20está bien y que tiene acceso a salud médico. Y tres, para asegurar que él tiene acceso a sus abogados y comunicación
11:31with your family as a requisite under the international laws and any form of human rights
11:40in which we all share.
11:42Right now, at this moment, we have not heard anything from this Wednesday.
11:49During this, I don't know how to say it in Spanish, act of propaganda in the Sheridan Hotel,
11:57and we have not heard anything from the Mr. Obrego from this moment,
12:01and we need, and in fact, we are demanding information about his case.
12:08And I'm saying that this case is really something about many things,
12:14but after all, it's a matter of the truth against the lies.
12:20There are many lies about Mr. Obrego Garcia and his family
12:25that is coming from the White House,
12:28and we are trying to excavate the facts, the truth of this case.
12:35And the truth is that Mr. Obrego Garcia is innocent,
12:39and he must receive his rights under international laws.
12:45And another time, I want to thank you.
12:49And I'm going to say, I'm going to say the following.
12:53I gave my promise to the family of Kilmer
13:01that I'm committed to going back to El Salvador,
13:07to continue working until he receives his due process under law.
13:15And then, I have a lot of confidence
13:19that if there is a right process that will liberate Mr. Obrego Garcia,
13:25and I'm committed to continue working until then.
13:29Thank you very much.
13:31So I'm going to make one more comment in English,
13:34and then I'll do the Spanish, and then we'll open up for questions.
13:36We also want to just be very clear that in our discussions at the embassy,
13:42but also in a letter that we have sent to Secretary Rubio and to the U.S. Ambassador,
13:48that we're here because we want Kilmer released.
13:50But we also know there are other people here in these prisons
13:55that have been essentially given no due process.
13:58And we want to highlight the case of Andri Romero,
14:01who was an asylum seeker coming to the United States,
14:05who was coming to the U.S. and was abducted.
14:08He had an appointment through the asylum process
14:11that was granted by our government to seek asylum.
14:15He's 19 years old. He's a young gay man.
14:18He's a hairdresser.
14:20His family is incredibly worried.
14:23We know that he has had no gang affiliations that anyone is aware of
14:28or that they've presented in a court of law.
14:31And we have not heard from him since the abduction actually happened now weeks ago.
14:36And so there's a young 19-year-old here in an El Salvadorian prison
14:40who we need to know, and we've asked,
14:42and this is our plea to the embassy here,
14:45is to confirm that he is alive.
14:48We've asked to see him, that he's alive,
14:51or that at a minimum his attorneys can do a welfare check on his whereabouts.
14:54And that is the case of Andri Romero,
14:57very important for us in the United States and hopefully here as well.
15:00In Spanish, I just want to say, my name is Roberto Garcia.
15:03I'm here with three other congressists.
15:06Congressists Maxwell Frost, Yasmin Ansari, and Maxine Dexter.
15:10We're all here from California, Florida, Arizona, and Oregon in the United States.
15:17We're here because we're telling the President Donald Trump
15:20that he has to return, at this moment, to Kilmer Abreu Garcia to the United States.
15:25The Supreme Court of the United States 9-0 has told the President
15:30that he has to return to Kilmer to the United States.
15:34Other courts in the United States also have told him that he has to return.
15:39All that is very important.
15:41And let me tell you another thing.
15:43The administration of Donald Trump also has told him that they sent him here
15:49and it was an accident.
15:51He didn't have to come here to El Salvador.
15:54It was an accident.
15:55He had to return.
15:56And that's why we're here.
15:58And we're going to come here.
16:00We'll take any questions that anyone can answer.
16:09Are there any questions in English or Spanish?
16:11What is the agenda that they have?
16:12Who are they meeting with?
16:13Who are they meeting with?
16:14Who are they meeting with?
16:15Who are they meeting with?
16:16So, we're going to tell the agenda, as it's going on.
16:21We're not going to tell everything.
16:23We've had a classified conversation with the Ambassador here from the United States
16:27to El Salvador.
16:28We've talked with different people from the embassy.
16:32We've talked with the family of Kilmer Abreuco Garcia,
16:36who the lawyer has done here for us.
16:41And we're also talking with other groups that are working in the areas of Human Rights
16:46and that are here in El Salvador too.
16:49And we're ready.
16:51If the embassy says that we can go to Kilmer or Andrew,
16:57Andrew, if you're good, we're also going to resist that.
17:02Any other questions?
17:04If the President Trump's government is still denying to take Kilmer Abreuco to the United States,
17:09where do you think it can escalate this legal problem, the judicial power and the executive power?
17:19What I would say about this is they're appealing this decision.
17:25It's going to go back up to the Supreme Court once again.
17:28And but part of this is the courts and part of it is the people.
17:31And it's the whole reason we're here is the people have to continue to ensure that his story is in the news,
17:37that we don't forget about this.
17:39Part of what the Trump administration does is they do so much that they try to make sure people forget,
17:43forget about them breaking the law, forget about them completely ignoring the Supreme Court.
17:48And that's part of the reason we're here today.
17:50First and foremost, we want we want him home.
17:52Secondly, we want to see him know he's alive and know that he's well.
17:55But also we want to make sure that this story doesn't go away there.
18:00There's going to be an end to the story.
18:02And the end we want is him home going through due process.
18:05The book is not closed on this.
18:08And the book is not closed on our Constitution and our laws, no matter what Donald Trump says.
18:13And so that's part of the reason we're here.
18:15The other thing I want to say, too, that that I think is important to mention is we formally requested to see him today.
18:22And we were told after our at our meeting that the government here has denied our request to see him because this is not an official trip,
18:33something that both Garcia, Robert Garcia and I requested from Chairman Comer of the committee that we sit on,
18:39which is the oversight committee of the of the federal government.
18:42And so, again, we're going to continue to do this no matter what.
18:46And like I said before, 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.
18:54That's right.
18:55Have you had any other contacts with the government?
18:59We saw him.
19:00We saw President Bukele falling essentially.
19:02Senator Van Hollen.
19:03What comments or interactions have you had with the government?
19:07You know, we have some additional meetings this afternoon, which we're not going to get into at this moment.
19:12What I will say is that I think it's it's we've been very clear that the United States Supreme Court is demanding that the Trump administration work to bring back Kilmar Abrego
19:24Garcia.
19:25We know that our president has a strong relationship with the president of El Salvador and certainly our allies.
19:32And we have no doubt that if Donald Trump wants Abrego Garcia back in the United States, that Abrego Garcia would right now be back in the United States.
19:42This is on Donald Trump.
19:43Our president needs to bring and follow the orders of the Supreme Court.
19:48I don't know if anybody else wants to add to that.
19:49Dozens of Venezuelan migrants were deported from the U.S. as well.
19:54Bloomberg reported that 90 percent of them didn't have a criminal record in the U.S.
19:57I hear a lot of talk about Kilmar.
19:59What have you been doing so far for these other Venezuelan migrants?
20:02I'll say that is also why we're here and the reason why we think this situation is so urgent, because it isn't just about Kilmar.
20:09It is the fact that our government is relentlessly going after any immigrant that's trying to come to the United States or is in the United States without any regard for due process.
20:18So while Kilmar's case has been highlighted and we want to see him freed, as my colleague said, we want to see Andre Romero freed.
20:25We want to see those Venezuelans if they have not been convicted of a crime, they should not be in prison here.
20:30So this is about all of it.
20:32This is about due process for everyone.
20:34And it is just completely egregious that the United States government had these legal processes set up like the CBP one app.
20:41People trusted us, our allies and folks coming to our country trusted that those systems would work, and we turned our backs on them and instead illegally deported them off to a prison where they have no answers, no access to counsel, no anything.
20:55So we want to see due process for all of those folks.
20:57Are you taking legal steps in El Salvador?
21:02You talked about going through the diplomatic route with President Bukel, but are you taking action here legally because we also don't know what the agreement entails in El Salvador?
21:12I don't think we have any comment on that.
21:15No, we have no comment on that.
21:16We have no comment on that.
21:17We're members of the United States Congress.
21:18We're here on behalf of our constituents because if this can happen to Abrego Garcia, it happened to people from Venezuela, it happened to so many people, it can also happen to our constituents.
21:27And any day now it could happen to citizens because the President himself said that in the Oval Office.
21:33This is a front to our laws, and that's why we're here.
21:35We're here doing our jobs.
21:37We're representing the people that we were elected to represent, and we're not waiting until it gets so bad that there's nothing we can do.
21:44There's something we can do right now.
21:46There's something we can do.
21:47Any other questions?
21:48Let me say one more thing also.
21:49Another question.
21:50I'll have come from Dexter to respond.
21:52It's really important for the people of El Salvador to know that if you look at recent polling in the United States that just happened two days ago, majority, a strong majority of Americans believe that we should not be sending migrants without due process to El Salvador or any other foreign jail.
22:11Majority of Americans believe that what's happening here in El Salvador, the American people believe what's happening here in El Salvador is wrong and should be stopped.
22:20And I think people need to understand and know that.
22:22Any final question?
22:23Final question.
22:24Mr. President...
22:25Mr. President.
22:26My question.
22:27T-.
22:28The President?
22:29T-.
22:34T-.
22:47So just to be very clear, both Congressman Frost and I requested an official CODEL congressional delegation trip.
23:08The only members of Congress that have seen, for example, gone to Seacott, gone to the jail, have been Republicans.
23:14There actually have been CODELs that have just been Republican members of Congress only.
23:19No Democrat has been allowed to go there.
23:22And so we, as Democrats, believe that Democrats should also be allowed to go.
23:26So Republicans control the House.
23:29They told us that we cannot go on an official trip, but that's not stopping us from going.
23:34The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which you were just asking about, we're both members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
23:38We understand that there's still interest, of course, for members to come visit.
23:42And I think that's all I can comment about, about that.
23:44Do you want to add?
23:45I do want to add that what our government is doing, paying for people to be imprisoned in El Salvador, was with the guise of these are criminals.
23:57And that has not been proven.
23:58You cannot prove criminality beyond a doubt without due process.
24:03So we are using taxpayer dollars in the United States to break our constitutional laws and put people in prison on the taxpayers.
24:14This is, without a doubt, illegal, immoral, and we must continue to stand firm up for the rule of law and for the rights of people.
24:23And I hope that we are the first of many to come here until this is resolved in our courts.
24:28We're going to close this last thing that was just mentioned, really important.
24:31You were asked about the contract.
24:33So we, members of Congress, we absolutely want that contract between the United States and El Salvador to be made public.
24:40So we should understand what funds are being transferred over to support the prison, prisons, and we should make that public.
24:48And we want, in Spanish, we want that the contract between the United States and El Salvador, for what we have paid, what money we have sent here for this situation, and to see the jail and prison, we have to see it as a public.
25:02All right, thank you guys.
25:03Appreciate you guys.