Washington (AP) – For Democrats, The Kilmar Abrego Garcia case concerns fundamental American ideals – regular procedure, following the judicial orders, preventing the government from overcoming. For the Trump administration and the Republicans, these are foreigners and threats of gangs and danger in American cities.
And this argument is precisely that that Donald Trump wants to have.
This dichotomy is played as the Democrats double their defense of Abrego GarciaA Salvadoran expelled and imprisoned by mistake without communication. They supervise his case of threat to individual rights to challenge President Trump’s immigration policies.
The effort arises while the Trump administration repels stronger, transforming this expulsion in the event of a test for its crusade against illegal immigration despite an order from the Supreme Court claiming that Garcia must have been returned to the United States.
By trying to shape the public discourse against the Democrats, the managers of the White House accuse them of defending a foreigner who, according to them, is a member of a gang based on the testimony of an informant – and whose woman admitted that she had once deposited a protective order against him despite defending his return.
“The regular procedure and the separation of powers are questions of principle,” said Democrat representative Adriano Espailt, president of the Hispanic Caucus of Congress on Thursday. “Without regular procedure for everyone, we are all in danger.”
Democrats began the year without immigration unity
The opposition began the year that broke out on its immigration strategy, in particular after an electoral season where Trump led the Republicans to victories by harassing illegal border crossings and promising to carry out mass deportations.
But now, many Democrats are clinging to the Abrego Garcia affair, with a Senator hikes in El Salvador And a certain number of representatives of the room working to organize official visits to the Salvadoral prison. Thursday evening, Maryland senator, Chris Van Hollen, published photos of himself Meeting in Salvador with Abrego Garcia. The legislator did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose lawyers are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate its return to the United States
Other high -level democrats such as Hillary Clinton, the governor of California Gavin Newsom and the senator of Vermont Bernie Sanders launch a public appeal by painting the case as an example of surpassing government.
But even Newsom, which has presidential aspirations, recognized Trump’s ability to arouse public favor.
“These are not normal times, so we must call it with clarity and conviction,” said Newsom in an interview with the commentator of Youtube, Brian Tyler Cohen. “But we have to stay focused on this so that the American people can stay focused on it. Because their success is their ability to win each damn new cycle and distract us and move in 25 different directions.”
Immigration was a relative force for Trump in A Mars AP-NARC surveyThis found that around half of adults approved his approach to immigration to us. And he came into office with a strong support for a component of his immigration program – expelling people with certain types of criminal stories. The vast majority of American adults have favored the deportation of immigrants found guilty of violent crimes, according to An AP-Noc survey of January.
However, there was much less consensus on how to manage deportations.
The January survey revealed that the elimination of immigrants who are in the country illegally and did not commit a violent crime was a divider, with only 4 out of 10 American adults to support and just over 4 out of 10. In this sense, A Pew Research Center survey From the end of February, when around half of the Americans said that at least “some” immigrants living in the country should be expelled, very few people in this group supported the expulsion of immigrants who have a job or who are married to an American citizen.
Trump firmly defends the position of his administration
The Trump administration recognized the expulsion of Abrego Garcia was the result of an “administrative error”, saying that immigration officials were aware of his protection against expulsion. But Trump officials described Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland, as a “terrorist” and said he was a member of the MS-13 gang, even if he was never charged in the United States of gangs involvement. “He does not come back to our country,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
By defending the position of his administration, Trump says that he was elected to do and justifies the need to deport millions, saying that a “large percentage” of migrants who arrived during the Biden administration are criminals – an assertion for which there is no evidence. Studies show that immigrants are Less likely to commit crimes that Americans of indigenous origin.
And although he was not clear when Abrego Garcia arrived in the United States, he began to fight the expulsion procedure in 2019 – before Democratic President Joe Biden took office.
“I was elected to get rid of these criminals – get them out of our country or put them away, but to get them out of our country. And I do not see how the judges can keep this authority from the president,” said Trump, a Republican.
A panel of three judges of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Trump The government “affirms the right to hide the residents of this country in foreign prisons without the appearance of a regular procedure which is the foundation of our constitutional order”.
Although immigration is a relative force, the challenge of court decisions could put its administration in a more delicate situation. A Washington Post / Ipsos survey carried out in February have found that around 8 out of 10 Americans think that the Trump administration should follow the decision of a federal court if it determines that the administration has done something illegal.
Representative Glenn Ivey, a democrat who represents the Maryland district where Abrego Garcia lived, told the Associated Press that no allegation raised by Trump officials would change the way he addresses the case. Ivey, who is more aligned with party moderates, described the problem as more than immigration.
“On the one hand, it is a question of immigration. On the other hand, it is also a constitutional question,” he said. “Yes, there is an immigration component, but it quickly turns into a conflict of separation of powers which could in fact end up taking historical proportions.”
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Gomez Licon reported Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The editors of the Associated Press Seung Min Kim in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
