At a press briefing in San Salvador, El Salvador, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) demanded the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
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00:00Good afternoon everyone. I'm Congresswoman Yasemin Ansari. I represent Phoenix, Arizona.
00:05I am here with my colleagues to demand that Donald Trump facilitate the safe return home
00:10for Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The facts of this case are abundantly clear. Mr. Garcia
00:16was abducted. He is a father. He is a husband. He's a union member. His union leadership
00:23is advocating for him through the building trade, saying that he needs to come home.
00:27And he was wrongly deported here to a foreign prison in El Salvador. And our government
00:32has admitted that mistake. The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the land,
00:38has said his return home must be facilitated by the United States government. So we are here today
00:44to demand that he is returned as soon as possible. We had a meeting this morning with the embassy here
00:50in El Salvador. And from what we have heard, there is no reason for me to believe that our
00:56administration, the Trump administration is doing anything to facilitate his safe return home. And
01:01that is simply unacceptable. It's against the Constitution. And it defies what we hold so
01:07dear in our country, which is due process and the rule of law. And as my colleagues have said,
01:12there are so many others. I represent Arizona's third district, an extremely diverse district where
01:18at our university 50 foreign students had their visas revoked unexpectedly. We have Afghan refugees
01:24who've received notice that they need to return home. We have people who have been detained, a veteran,
01:30detained and deported by ICE, a veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. So this is not
01:36just about Kilmar. We need Kilmar to come home. But we are so concerned that if this is allowed to fly,
01:43that the Trump administration will be emboldened to continue. And since we were not able to get the
01:48answers we need today from the embassy, we have written a letter just as of 30 minutes ago to Secretary
01:54of State Marco Rubio demanding daily proof of life for Mr. Obrego Garcia, demanding he sees he has access to
02:02counsel, and of course, finally demanding his safe return home. And we will not stop until this is complete.
02:07And with that, I will hand it over to my colleague, Rep. Maxine Dexter.