Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday called on “Americans of conscience” to speak up against the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man and Salvadoran native who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison last month.
In a post on the social platform X Wednesday, President Trump’s 2016 election opponent argued that what happened to Abrego Garcia could happen to anyone.
“Before the election, I warned that there is no safe haven under authoritarianism,” Clinton wrote. “If they can ship Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a foreign prison—accused of no crime, with no trial—they can do it to anyone.”
“Americans of conscience must stand against this now,” she added.
The Trump administration has refused to bring back Abrego Garcia, even as federal courts have ordered the administration to facilitate his release from Salvadoran custody.
Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador as a teenager to escape gang violence. He was protected from deportation by an immigration judge in 2019, a fact courts this year have underscored in calling on the administration to bring him back to the United States.
The administration previously acknowledged in a court filing that Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by mistake, but officials now say he’s a danger to society and he would have been sent back to El Salvador one way or another.
The White House has portrayed him as a violent gang member, despite denials from his family that he was part of MS-13 and a conflicting court record.
Democrats and civil rights groups have been in an uproar over the case. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) visited El Salvador this week and met with officials, but he was denied permission to visit Abrego Garcia or even speak to him on the phone.
