Rep. Yassamin Ansari returns from El Salvador, calls for deportee’s release
PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — Arizona Rep. Yassamin Ansari and her fellow Democrats are back in the U.S. after their trip to El Salvador, demanding the release of a man mistakenly deported there.
The freshman lawmaker tried to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia but was denied. The group of Democrats is pressuring the White House to get him back into the U.S. They also want daily proof of life of Garcia and that he is given access to legal counsel.
Ansari accused the Trump administration of waging war against the country’s fundamental rights and freedoms. “We also have to recognize that this is about more than one man; it’s about all of us. What we’re witnessing is a constitutional crisis,” she said.
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration nearly two weeks ago to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. from a notorious Salvadoran prison, rejecting the White House’s claim that it couldn’t retrieve him after mistakenly deporting him.
A federal judge said Tuesday that the Trump administration is ignoring court orders, obstructing the legal process and acting in “bad faith” by refusing to provide information about the steps they have taken, if any, to free a mistakenly deported man from an El Salvador prison and return him to the U.S.
The rhetoric is part of the Democrats’ media campaign to keep Garcia’s case in the spotlight. With Democrats out of power, there’s little else Ansari can do. “This was just the beginning. Again I think it’s really important now to speak with more conservative audiences about this issue of due process and our constitution,” Ansari said.
Reps. Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California joined Ansari on the trip. Rep. Ansari said she knows of other Democrats who plan to travel to El Salvador in the coming weeks to keep the pressure campaign up.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
