A lawmaker tried to visit his deported friend

The First United States Senator to Visit El Salvador: Campaign for the Return of Abrego Garcia, the CECOT–Mormonstr”oa fugitive from El Salvador

“I can assure the president and vice president that I may be the first United States senator to visit El Salvador on this issue, but there will be more, and there will be more members of congress coming,” Van Hollen said.

On the other side, Abrego Garcia has legal status in the U.S.; his wife is an American citizen and has pleaded for his return; stories have noted that he is the father to a son on the autism spectrum; that he has no criminal record and that his family sent him to the United States in the first place as a teenager because a gang in El Salvador (not MS-13) was trying to coerce him to join.

The situation galvanized Van Hollen, to personally campaign for — and try to visit — Abrego Garcia, who is being held in a notorious mega-prison known as CECOT.

“The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration, to let the government of El Salvador, know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home until he returns to his family,” Van Hollen said from the airport. We are going to fight, because this is a grave injustice.

Van Hollen said Ulloa could not arrange a phone or video call with Abrego Garcia, but told him the American embassy might be able to. He said he’ll ask the embassy to do so, so he can continue his fight to return Abrego.

She accused Van Hollen of potentially using taxpayer dollars to fund his trip and also slammed Democrats for supporting AbregoGarcia’s release rather than improving border security.

Leavitt was joined at the press briefing by Maryland resident Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel was raped and murdered in 2023 by a fugitive from El Salvador, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, 24, who was convicted of the crime on Monday. The person spoke critically of Van Hollen.

I am extremely unhappy with my senator from Maryland who doesn’t acknowledge or even acknowledge the brutal death of my daughter and leaves her five children without a mother, so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly someone to El Salvador and bring them back.

The statement was released by Van Hollen’s office and thanking those who made the verdict possible. He said the country can improve public safety and border security “while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally.”

Corresponding Reps. Rob Garcia, Maxwell Frost and Delia Ramirez urged the Comer committee to visit Center for Education and Communities (CECOT)

Two Republicans posted photos to their social media accounts from a tour of Center for Education and Communities in Texas. They each spoke highly of Trump’s deportation agenda, with Moore saying he leaves “even more determined” to support the president’s efforts.

In two separate letters this week, Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Delia Ramirez of Illinois, asked the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., to authorize a Congressional Member Delegation to visit CECOT.

Garcia and Frost wrote that a “Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT.”

“In addition, congressional oversight is warranted following President Trump’s recent remarks in which he expressed a desire to send ‘homegrown criminals’ — including U.S. citizens — to this facility,” they said, adding that they would gladly include Republicans on their trip and are prepared to leave as soon as possible.

That prompted Trump to lash out against Powell on Thursday, saying the Fed chairman’s “termination cannot come fast enough.” Powell believes he can’t be fired by the president because of policy disagreements.

It’s worth remembering that so much of politics is about messaging — not facts, not nuance. In Abrego’s case, the administration is trying to make him look like a bad person. Police reports produced by Trump’s team show police believe he is a member of the gang. The White House Press Secretary went as far as saying that he was engaged in human traffickers.

What to do if the U.S. sends homegrown criminals to El Salvador? The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

So which one of them is going to weigh out? If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the administration, there will be a true constitutional crisis. Maybe that would come if Trump follows through on his musings about sending “homegrown” criminals, in other words, U.S. citizens, to El Salvador.

The Supreme Court said the administration had to “facilitate” the man’s return, but it also said the courts should show “due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

The Secretary of State stated during that meeting that no court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States. “I don’t understand what the confusion is. This individual is a citizen of El Salvador. He was deported back to his country after being in the United States illegally.

The week was dominated by news about President Trump and the continued struggle over the narrative around Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was illegally deported to El Salvador. The Federal Reserve chair says that Trump’s tariffs are likely to lead to higher prices, as well as tension between scientific establishment and Robert Kennedy Jr., who made some big announcements during his first news conference as health and human services.

President Trump met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday. The president’s inner circle and the Salvadoran president had a game about the deported Maryland man.

The same federal judge, who has now bucked the Trump administration over its deportation policies multiple times, James Boasberg, this week said there was “probable cause” for contempt charges against the administration. He’s giving the Trump team, which he said has shown a “willful disregard” for his orders, until Wednesday to give some real answers about why they defied his court order to turn around a plane that brought migrants to the Salvadoran prison.

Source: 5 takeaways from the week: Nearing a constitutional crisis?

Vaccines, autism, and the birth of children: five lessons from the week: Nearing a constitutional crisis? Revised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr

There could be environmental causes besides the vaccines. That’s Kennedy’s theory. But science is about dispassionately letting evidence dictate answers, not letting preconceived answers dictate science.

For years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has cast doubt on the safety of vaccines and given credence to the contention that they might cause autism. Research thoroughly debunks the idea, and links other, non-vaccine related factors such as a father’s age. He’s promising to find a solution to the problem by September, despite the fact that there’s been decades of research into the topic.

“One of the things I think we need to move away from today is this ideology that this diagnosis, rather the relentless increases, are simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition,” Kennedy said. He also said: “Doctors and therapists in the past weren’t stupid; they weren’t missing all these cases. The epidemic is real and it is happening. We’re going to find the answer because of external factors and environmental exposures.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that there is a correlation between increased diagnoses and the increase in the number of children with behavioral problems such asautism.

Source: 5 takeaways from the week: Nearing a constitutional crisis?

Immigration decisions against Abrego Garcia, a gang member in the Western clique from the 1970s, and a prisoner’s lawyer

So, for now, he said, the Fed will wait and watch. It could be waiting and watching for a while due to how quickly he has changed his mind.

Powell said this week that the tariffs were larger than he thought, and that they’re very likely to lead to higher inflation.

“Evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York — a place he has never lived,” she said in a ruling.

In fact, an immigration court in 2019 found that he could face death or danger by being sent back to El Salvador. The judge overseeing his case called the evidence that he is a gang member flimsy.