White House defends wrongful deportation of Maryland man
The Trump administration is defending the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia with new information.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump sidestepped a question in the Oval Office about whether he would take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States and put him in front of a judge if a court holds him in contempt.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met on April 17 with Italy’s prime minister, “Well, I’m not involved in it. I’m going to respond to that by saying you’ll have to speak to the lawyers, the DOJ. I’ve heard many things about him. We’ll have to find out what the truth is.”
The president went on to defend his immigration policies, saying he was elected to expel migrants who have committed violent offenses. “Or to put them away, but to get them out of our country.”
“And I don’t see how judges can take that authority away from a president,” Trump said.
U.S. officials contend Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, recently deemed a foreign terrorist organization. But their evidence relies on a confidential informant and clothing Garcia was wearing in 2019 police encounter.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland, who is handling the case, has questioned the strength of the government’s evidence.
“Defendants have claimed – without any evidence – that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13,” Xinis wrote in an April 6 opinion.
In the Oval Office later on April 17, as he signed two executive orders, Trump again referred reporters to DOJ lawyers after he was asked whether Abrego Garcia deserves due process in the United States and if he’d press El Salvador’s president to release him so the U.S. government can facilitate his return.
“I have to refer again to the lawyers,” Trump said. “I’ll have to do what they ask me to do.”