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Protesters gathered outside El Salvador’s consulate in St. Paul on Wednesday to demand the return of a man who was mistakenly sent to a prison in that Central American nation. 

“I’m just concerned for this man, as a person. To my own surprise, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about him in detention, and I know that he is just only one person who’s been so deeply hurt by this administration,” protester Michele Braley said, referring to Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “His situation provides us an opportunity to organize and protest and say ‘no’ to what's happening.”

Abrego Garcia — who is from El Salvador but had lived in the U.S. for about 14 years — was detained in Maryland last month and deported to a notorious El Salvador prison. 

That’s despite a 2019 order from a U.S. immigration judge that had shielded Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs.

Officials with President Donald Trump’s administration later described Abrego Garcia’s deportation as “an administrative error” but insisted that he was a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia was never charged with a crime and has denied the allegations. 

Braley said her concern about Abrego Garcia — and also about Trump’s refusal of a court order to bring him back — prompted her to go to Wednesday’s protest. Organizers estimated it drew about 500 people. 

Saleh Ramahi was also among the protesters. He is Palestinian and said he felt a connection to the case of Abrego Garcia. 

Ramahi said he was protesting because the Trump administration did not give Abrego Garcia due process before deporting him. 

“Everyone has to have a fair trial, a fair due process — everyone, no matter who they are, A to Z. But they're not giving us that because we don't have the power like they do,” he said during the protest. “But when you see this, you see that we have more power than they do. That just gives you the reason to live right and do whatever it takes to help.”

Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., even as the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.

Trump administration officials reiterated Wednesday that Abrego Garcia would not be returned to the United States.

MPR News Staff

Author

The Associated Press

Protesters gathered outside El Salvador’s consulate in St. Paul on Wednesday to demand the return of a man who was mistakenly sent to a prison in that Central American nation. 


Protesters gather outside El Salvador’s consulate in St. Paul

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