WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 For Democrats, the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case is about fundamental American ideals 鈥 due process, following court orders, preventing government overreach. For the Trump administration and Republicans, it's about foreigners and gang threats and danger in American towns and cities.
And that argument is precisely the one that Donald Trump wants to have.
This dichotomy is playing out as Democrats double down on their defense of , a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and imprisoned without communication. They're framing his case as a threat to individual rights to challenge President 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 immigration policies.
The effort comes as the Trump administration pushes back harder, turning this deportation into a test case for his crusade against illegal immigration despite a Supreme Court order saying Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States.
In trying to shape public discourse against Democrats, Trump and White House officials are accusing them of defending a foreigner who they鈥檝e claimed is a gang member based on testimony of an informant 鈥 and whose wife admitted she once filed a protective order against him despite now advocating for his return.
鈥淒ue process and separation of powers are matters of principle," Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said Thursday. 鈥淲ithout due process for all, we are all in danger.鈥
Democrats began the year without unity on immigration
The opposition started the year splintered on its immigration strategy, especially after an election season where Trump led Republicans to victories by harping on illegal border crossings and vowing to conduct mass deportations.
But now many Democrats are latching onto the Abrego Garcia case, with a and a number of House representatives working to organize official visits to the Salvadoran prison. On Thursday evening, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen posted photos of himself The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the U.S.
Trump responded Friday with a social media post saying Van Hollen 鈥渓ooked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention.鈥 Later on Friday, he told reporters Abrego Garcia was 鈥渘ot a very innocent guy,鈥 reading from a piece of paper with information he said came from the State Department and other sources about Abrego Garcia鈥檚 immigration arrest, a traffic stop in Tennessee and the wife鈥檚 protective order filing.
鈥淭his is the man that the Democrats are wanting us to fly back from El Salvador to be a happily ensconced member of the USA family,鈥 Trump said.
Still, other high-profile Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders are making a public appeal by painting the case as an example of government overreach.
But even Newsom, who has presidential aspirations, recognized 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 ability to curry favor with the public.
鈥淭hese are not normal times, so we have to call it out with clarity and conviction,鈥 Newsom said in an interview with YouTube commentator Brian Tyler Cohen. 鈥淏ut we鈥檝e got to stay focused on it so the American people can stay focused on it. Because his success is his ability to win every damn news cycle and get us distracted and moving in 25 different directions.鈥
Immigration was a relative strength for Trump in , which found that about half of U.S. adults approved of his approach to immigration. And he came into office with strong support for one component of his immigration agenda 鈥 deporting people with certain kinds of criminal histories. The vast majority of U.S. adults favored deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, according to .
There was far less consensus about how to handle deportations more broadly, though.
The January poll found that removing immigrants who are in the country illegally and have not committed a violent crime was divisive, with only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in support and slightly more than 4 in 10 opposed. Along those lines, from late February found that while about half of Americans said at least 鈥渟ome鈥 immigrants living in the country illegally should be deported, very few people in that group supported deporting immigrants who have a job or are married to a U.S. citizen.
Trump staunchly defends his administration's position
The Trump administration has acknowledged Abrego Garcia's deportation was a result of 鈥渁n administrative error,鈥 saying immigration officials were aware of his protection from deportation. But Trump officials have described Abrego Garcia, who was living in Maryland, as a 鈥渢errorist鈥 and claimed he is a member of the MS-13 gang, even though he was never criminally charged in the U.S. with gang involvement. 鈥淗e is not coming back to our country,鈥 Attorney General Pam Bondi has said.
In defending his administration鈥檚 position, Trump says he is doing what he was elected to do and justifying the need to deport millions, saying a 鈥渂ig percentage鈥 of migrants who arrived during the Biden administration are criminals 鈥 an assertion for which there is no evidence. Studies show immigrants are than native-born Americans.
And while it is not clear when Abrego Garcia arrived in the U.S., he began fighting against deportation proceedings in 2019 鈥 before Democratic President Joe Biden took office.
鈥淚 was elected to get rid of those criminals 鈥 get them out of our country or to put them away, but to get them out of our country. And I don鈥檛 see how judges can take that authority away from the president,鈥 Trump, a Republican, said Thursday.
A three-judge panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said government is 鈥渁sserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.鈥
While immigration is a relative strength, defiance of court rulings could put his administration in a trickier situation. found that about 8 in 10 Americans think the Trump administration should follow a federal court鈥檚 ruling if it determines that the administration has done something illegal.
Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat who represents the Maryland district where Abrego Garcia lived, told The Associated Press that no allegations brought up by Trump officials would change how he approaches the case. Ivey, who is more aligned with the party鈥檚 moderates, described the issue as about more than just immigration.
鈥淥n the one hand, it鈥檚 an immigration issue. On the other hand, it鈥檚 also a constitutional issue,鈥 he said. 鈥淵es, there鈥檚 an immigration component, but it鈥檚 rapidly growing into a separation of powers conflict that could actually end up taking on historic proportions.鈥
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim, Michelle L. Price in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
