00:00So I just met with the Vice President of El Salvador. I'm grateful for the meeting.
00:08The President is out of the country at this time.
00:12So I appreciated the chance to talk to the Vice President about the case of Kilmar Abrego García.
00:30And we started the conversation on a point of agreement, which is that our two countries should work together to crack down on transnational gangs like MS-13.
01:00And I told the Vice President that for over two decades, I have worked in my state of Maryland to crack down on MS-13.
01:18And I look forward to further efforts to make sure that we crack down on violent gangs.
01:36I think that's important to underscore because the case of Kilmar Abrego García does not have to do with MS-13.
01:53If you listen to President Trump and the Trump administration, you would think that the U.S. courts have found that Mr. Abrego García is part of MS-13.
02:18But in fact, they have not found that.
02:20In fact, recently, a U.S. federal court judge said that the Trump administration did not have evidence to support the claim that he had ever been part of MS-13.
02:30In fact, Mr. Abrego García is legally in the United States.
02:59In fact, an immigration judge found years ago that it would put his life in danger if he was returned to El Salvador.
03:14And so he was given protective status and a work permit.
03:28And by the way, that was done during the last Trump administration, the last time President Trump was in office.
03:41And they never appealed that decision.
03:52So I want to emphasize that President Trump and our Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Vice President of the United States are lying when they say that Abrego García has been charged with a crime or is part of MS-13.
04:09And that is a lie.
04:23And this is a lie to cover up what they did.
04:27So what did they do?
04:28So they illegally abducted Mr. Abrego García from Maryland and sent him to SICA, which is a notorious prison here in El Salvador.
04:51In fact, it's a prison where they say they send the worst of the worst, right?
05:10That's where they send the terrorists.
05:11Now, the courts of the United States have said there's no evidence to support the charge that he's part of MS-13.
05:27So I asked the Vice President whether or not El Salvador has any evidence that he's part of MS-13 or has committed a crime.
05:36So I asked the Vice President if Abrego García has not committed a crime.
06:04And the U.S. courts have found that he was illegally taken for the United States.
06:11And the government of El Salvador has no evidence that he was part of MS-13.
06:18Why is El Salvador continuing to hold him in SICA?
06:22And his answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador,
06:51to keep him at SICA.
06:55And I pointed out that neither the government of El Salvador nor the Trump administration
07:13has presented evidence to support the claim that he's committed any kind of criminal acts.
07:20And so why not release Abrego García today?
07:35And he said what President Bukele said the other day at the White House,
07:49which is that El Salvador can't smuggle Mr. Abrego García into the United States.
07:56And I said I'm not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego García in the United States.
08:08I'm simply asking him to open the door of SICA and let this innocent man walk out.
08:14And I pointed out that the Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi,
08:30has said that the United States would send a plane to El Salvador to pick him up.
08:35And why did she do that?
08:47Because the Supreme Court of the United States, in a ruling of 9-0,
08:52has said that the Trump administration has to facilitate his return to the United States.
08:57Now, there's no evidence that the Trump administration is complying with that order.
09:17There's no evidence that they are complying with that order.
09:30In fact, the United States Embassy here has told me they've received no direction
09:36from the Trump administration to help facilitate his release.
09:40So, the Trump administration is clearly in violation of American court orders.
10:04But that still leaves the question,
10:06why is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man
10:12where they have no evidence he's committed any crime
10:15and they've not been provided any evidence from the United States that he's committed a crime?
10:32So, they should just let him go.
10:36And they should let him go.
10:39And we will find a way to get him from San Salvador to Maryland, the state of Maryland.
10:53Because I promised his wife, his wife Jennifer,
10:56and his mother and his brother
11:02and their family,
11:05because he has three children.
11:10Some of them have severe disabilities.
11:16I promised them that I would do everything I could
11:19to get him out of CICOT.
11:30And I won't stop trying,
11:32and I can assure the president, the vice president,
11:36that I may be the first United States senator to visit El Salvador
11:40on this issue,
11:41but there will be more,
11:43and there will be more members of Congress coming.
11:45This is an unsustainable and unjust moment,
12:01so it cannot continue this way.
12:03I also told his wife and family
12:11that I would try to meet
12:13with Mr. Abrego Garcia
12:16while I was here.
12:17So I asked the vice president
12:28if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia.
12:36And he said,
12:37well, you need to make earlier provisions
12:40to go visit CICOT.
12:43I said I'm not interested at this moment
12:51in taking a tour of CICOT.
12:53I just want to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia.
13:07He said he was not able to make that happen.
13:13I asked,
13:16he said he needed a little more time.
13:20I asked him if I came back next week
13:22whether I'd be able to see Mr. Abrego Garcia.
13:30He said he couldn't promise that either.
13:32So I asked him if I could get on the phone,
13:40either a video phone or just a phone,
13:41and talk to Mr. Abrego Garcia.
13:53So I could just ask him how he's doing
13:56so I could report back to his family.
13:58He said he could not arrange that.
14:05He said maybe if the American Embassy were to ask,
14:14maybe that could happen.
14:15So I will certainly ask the American Embassy
14:23to ask the government of El Salvador
14:25to connect us by phone.
14:38I asked him how about his family.
14:40How can he talk to his wife
14:41so that she can hear his voice?
14:50I let him know that the family has requested that.
14:57He said he was not sure
14:58whether he could make that happen.
15:00So we have an unjust situation here.
15:15The Trump administration is lying
15:18about Abrego Garcia.
15:25The American courts have looked at the facts.
15:30In fact, the Trump administration lawyer,
15:37the government lawyer,
15:38admitted to the court
15:39that Mr. Abrego Garcia
15:41had been in administrative error,
15:46that it was a mistake.
15:47But instead of fixing the problem
15:58and addressing that injustice,
16:02do you know what the Trump administration did?
