By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. senator John Kennedy criticized President Donald Trump and his administration on Sunday for their handling of the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the El Salvadoran man wrongly deported by Washington, and for the Republican president’s comment that he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are U.S. citizens.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
It is not very common for Republican lawmakers to criticize Trump, who took office on January 20 and whose administration’s deportation drive is condemned by rights groups as an assault on due process rights. The Supreme Court has directed the administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return after Washington acknowledged he was deported because of an administrative error.
KEY QUOTES
Senator Kennedy of Louisiana was asked on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” program if he thought the law allowed Trump to send U.S. citizens who were criminals to foreign prisons.
“No, ma’am. Nor does it, nor should it, nor should it be considered appropriate or moral. We have our own laws,” he said. “We shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries in my judgment.”
Trump has said he wants to deport some violent criminals who are U.S. citizens to Salvadoran prisons, a move experts said would violate U.S. law.
Kennedy said he did not see Abrego Garcia’s case as part of a wider pattern but called it a “screw up,” adding that Abrego Garcia should have had a hearing before being sent to El Salvador.
“The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screw up.”
CONTEXT
The U.S. government says it does not seek Abrego Garcia’s return. His lawyers say he was never charged with a crime and deny U.S. claims he belonged to the criminal gang MS-13.
Separately, the Supreme Court temporarily barred the Trump administration on Saturday from deporting some Venezuelan migrants it accused of being gang members under a rarely used wartime law.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Mark Porter)
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