On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) responded to a question on audio of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s wife asking for protection from him by stating that “our advocacy here has a little bit less to do with him individually and more the process” and laws requiring due process.
Host Jake Tapper asked, “Senator, since the deportation of Abrego Garcia, we’ve learned a lot more about him and the alleged abuse towards his wife. USA Today obtained audio of his wife from a court hearing in 2020, asking a judge for protection against Abrego Garcia. Now, since then, she’s backed off that. But the police report and that audio stand. Should Democrats, do you think, continue to push for this specific individual’s return from El Salvador, or maybe the situation is more complicated than it initially seemed?”
Padilla answered, “I appreciate the question, but whether you’re talking to me, whether you’re talking to Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD), or any other one of our colleagues, I think our advocacy here has a little bit less to do with him individually and more the process, the process and the fact — the lack of due process that this administration continues to act with. The laws are clear in this country. Even if you are undocumented, you have the right to due process, whether it’s Kilmar himself, whether it’s women, whether it’s children, whether it’s United States citizen children that have been deported to other countries with a lack of due process, that, in and of itself, is problematic. And so, that’s the really biggest concern that we have here. It’s not just the numbers, but the cruelty and the lack of due process that this administration keeps acting with.”
On April 16, Padilla said that Abrego Garcia is “a family man, a husband, a father, a resident of Maryland for more than 15 years, in the apprenticeship program for the sheet metal workers’ union” Padilla also characterized Abrego Garcia as a “Maryland Father” on April 9.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
Read the full article here
