During a press conference on Monday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) answered questions about the push to return wrongly deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
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00:00Are you taking any legal steps in El Salvador, taking legal steps in El Salvador, you talk 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.
00:15I don't think we have any comment on that. No, we have no comment on that.
00:19We have no comment on that. We're members of the United States Congress. We're here on behalf of our constituents because if this can happen to Abrego Garcia, it can happen to people from Venezuela, it can also happen to our constituents.
00:30And any day now could happen to citizens because the president himself said that in the Oval Office.
00:36This is a front to our laws, and that's why we're here. We're here doing our jobs.
00:40We'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.
00:47There's something we can do right now. There's something we can do.
00:49Any other questions? Let me say one more thing. I'll have a question. I'll have come to Dexter respond.
00:54I think it'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.
01:14The majority 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.
01:23And I think people need to understand and know that. Any final question?
01:26One question.
01:56So, just to be very clear, both Congressman Frost and I requested an official CODEL congressional delegation trip.
02:11The only members of Congress that have seen, for example, gone to Seacott, gone to the jail, have been Republicans.
02:17There actually have been CODELs that have just been Republican members of Congress only.
02:22No Democrat has been allowed to go there.
02:25And so we, as Democrats, believe that Democrats should also be allowed to go.
02:29So Republicans control the House.
02:31They have told us that we cannot go on an official trip, but that's not stopping us from going.
02:36The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which you were just asking about, we're both members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
02:41We understand that there's still interest, of course, for members to come visit.
02:45And I think that's all I can comment about.
02:46I 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.
02:59And that has not been proven.
03:01You cannot prove criminality beyond a doubt without due process.
03:06So we are using taxpayer dollars in the United States to break our constitutional laws and put people in prison on the taxpayers.
03:16This 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.
03:25And I hope that we are the first of many to come here until this is resolved in our courts.
03:30We're going to close this on.
03:31The last thing that was just mentioned is really important.
03:33You were asked about the contract.
03:35So we, members of Congress, we absolutely want that contract between the United States and El Salvador to be made public.
03:43So we should understand what funds are being transferred over to support the prison, prisons, and we should make that public.
03:51And we want, in Spanish, we want that 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.
04:05Thank you, guys.
04:05Appreciate you, guys.