US Senator Van Hollen says he met wrongly deported man in El Salvador

US Senator Van Hollen says he met wrongly deported man in El Salvador
Chris Van Hollen. (AFP)
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Updated 18 April 2025
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US Senator Van Hollen says he met wrongly deported man in El Salvador

US Senator Van Hollen says he met wrongly deported man in El Salvador
  • Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love”

SAN SALVADOR: Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen met Thursday in El Salvador with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.
Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, saying he also called Abrego Garcia’s wife “to pass along his message of love.” The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Abrego Garcia, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the US, saying he would have more details Friday.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele posted images of the meeting minutes before Van Hollen shared his post, saying, “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.” The tweet ended with emojis of the US and El Salvador flags, with a handshake emoji between them.
A spokeswoman for El Salvador’s presidency said she had no further information.
The meeting came hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry into an high-security El Salvador prison Thursday while he was trying to check on Abrego Garcia’s well-being and push for his release.
The Democratic senator said at a news conference in San Salvador that his car was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) from the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, even as they let other cars go on.
“They stopped us because they are under orders not to allow us to proceed,” Van Hollen said.
US President Donald Trump and Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send Abrego Garcia back, even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return. Trump officials have said that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys say the government has provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
Van Hollen’s trip has become a partisan flashpoint in the US as Democrats have seized on Abrego Garcia’s deportation as what they say is a cruel consequence of Trump’s disregard for the courts. Republicans have criticized Democrats for defending him and argued that his deportation is part of a larger effort to reduce crime. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt held a news conference Wednesday with the mother of a Maryland woman who was killed by a fugitive from El Salvador in 2023.
The Maryland senator told reporters Wednesday that he met with Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa, who said his government could not return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
“So today, I tried again to make contact with Mr. Abrego Garcia by driving to the CECOT prison,” Van Hollen said Thursday.
Van Hollen said Abrego Garcia has not had any contact with his family or his lawyers. “There has been no ability to find out anything about his health and well-being,” Van Hollen said. He said Abrego Garcia should be able to have contact with his lawyers under international law.
“We won’t give up until Kilmar has his due process rights respected,” Van Hollen said. He said there would be “many more” lawmakers coming to El Salvador.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is also considering a trip to El Salvador, as are some House Democrats.
While Van Hollen was denied entry, several House Republicans have visited the notorious gang prison in support of the Trump administration’s efforts. Rep. Riley Moore, a West Virginia Republican, posted Tuesday evening that he’d visited the prison where Abrego Garcia is being held. He did not mention Abrego Garcia but said the facility “houses the country’s most brutal criminals.”
“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Moore wrote on social media.
Missouri Republican Rep. Jason Smith, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, also visited the prison. He posted on X that “thanks to President Trump” the facility “now includes illegal immigrants who broke into our country and committed violent acts against Americans.”
The fight over Abrego Garcia has also played out in contentious court filings, with repeated refusals from the government to tell a judge what it plans to do, if anything, to repatriate him.
Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the US more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s maximum-security gang prison just outside San Salvador. That prison is part of Bukele’s broader effort to crack down on the country’s powerful street gangs, which has put 84,000 people behind bars and made Bukele extremely popular at home.
Human rights groups have accused Bukele’s government of subjecting those jailed to “systematic use of torture and other mistreatment.” Officials there deny wrongdoing.


Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees

Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees
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Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees

Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees
  • Over 11,000 Afghans in the US risk deportation after losing temporary protected status this month
  • Many of them backed the US during the 20-year war in Afghanistan and fled in fear of the Taliban

KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday it was ready for “dialogue” with the Trump administration on the repatriation of Afghan refugees whose legal protections in the United States will be revoked in July.

Citing an improved security situation in Afghanistan, Washington announced Monday that the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for Afghanistan would expire on May 20 and the termination would take effect on July 12.

Kabul is “ready to engage in constructive dialogue with the US & other countries regarding repatriation of Afghans who no longer meet criteria to remain in host countries,” said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on X.

The Taliban government has already offered assurances that those Afghans who fled the country as they stormed back to power in 2021 could safely return.

However, the United Nations has reported cases of executions and disappearances.

Taliban authorities have also squeezed women out of education, jobs and public life since 2021, creating what the UN has called “gender apartheid.”

The move by Washington could affect more than 11,000 Afghans, many of whom supported the United States during two decades of war and fled Taliban persecution, according to Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac.

“Afghanistan is the shared home of all Afghans, & all have the right to free movement,” Balkhi said in his statement.

The country has faced a major economic crisis since 2021 and is enduring the second worst humanitarian crisis in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations.

More than 100,000 Afghans have returned home since neighboring Pakistan launched a new mass expulsion campaign in April.

More than 265,000 undocumented Afghans also returned from neighboring Iran between January and April, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

US federal law permits the government to grant TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.

But since taking office President Donald Trump has moved to strip the designation from citizens of countries including Haiti and Venezuela as part of his broader crackdown on immigration.


US Republicans eye key votes on Trump tax cuts mega-bill

US Republicans eye key votes on Trump tax cuts mega-bill
Updated 14 May 2025
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US Republicans eye key votes on Trump tax cuts mega-bill

US Republicans eye key votes on Trump tax cuts mega-bill

WASHINGTON: Republicans geared up Tuesday for a series of crucial votes on Donald Trump’s domestic policy mega-bill, with rows over spending threatening to unravel the US president’s plans for sweeping tax cuts.
Three key House committees are slated to finalize and vote on their portions of Trump’s much-touted “big, beautiful” bill, led by a roughly $5 trillion extension of his 2017 tax relief.
Republicans are weighing partially covering the cost with deep cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program that benefits more than 70 million low-income people.
Before it can get to Trump’s desk, the package must survive votes of the full House and Senate, where Republicans have razor-thin controlling margins.
“The bill delivers what Americans voted for — tax policies that put working families first — and kick-starts a new golden era of American prosperity and strength,” said Jason Smith, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which is charged with drafting the tax proposals.
The marathon committee debates are expected to continue into the night and even spill into daytime Wednesday ahead of a make-or-break full House vote planned for next week.
If any of the committees fall short, the timetable for ushering in Trump’s priorities could be upended.
As the Republican billionaire seeks to cement his legacy with lasting legislation, every week is considered crucial ahead of 2026 midterm elections that could see his grip on the levers of power weakened.
But the package is threatened by bitter infighting, with conservatives angling for much deeper cuts and moderates worried about threats to health coverage.
Republicans plan to slash more than $700 billion from health care alone, which would leave several million people without coverage, according to a nonpartisan estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.
Democrats have angrily defended at-risk entitlements and hit out at tax cuts they say are a debt-inflating gift to the rich, funded by the middle class.
On the tax front, House Republicans released a nearly 390-page bill Monday detailing where they want to raise revenues to cover Trump’s promised extension of the expiring 2017 tax cuts.
The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this portion of the package will mean $3.7 trillion in lost revenue between 2025-2034, when savings in the text are taken into account.
The president appears on course to get most of what he wants — including a four-year pause on tax on tips, overtime and interest on loans for American-made cars.
There are big tax hikes on the endowments of wealthy colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton, and an aggressive roll-back of Joe Biden’s clean energy tax credits.
But Republicans representing districts in high-tax states have rejected as too low a proposed increase in the relief they get in state and local taxes  from $10,000 to $30,000.
Democrats hosted a press event at the US Capitol to decry the proposed cuts ahead of the committee meetings, deploying a mobile billboard criticizing Republicans over the Medicaid proposals.
“Let’s be clear: There’s nothing moderate, efficient, or reasonable about Donald Trump and Republicans’ dangerous plans to gut health care and force kids to go hungry so they can fund tax handouts for billionaires,” said Democratic National Committee spokesperson Aida Ross.
Twenty-five activists were arrested outside one of the committee rooms for “illegally demonstrating,” the US Capitol Police told AFP.
“It is against the law to protest inside the congressional buildings,” the force said in a statement.
 


Trump’s approval rating rises as Americans worry less about recession

Trump’s approval rating rises as Americans worry less about recession
Updated 14 May 2025
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Trump’s approval rating rises as Americans worry less about recession

Trump’s approval rating rises as Americans worry less about recession

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s approval rating rose this week as Americans worried less about his handling of the economy and prospects of a recession, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday.
The two-day poll showed 44 percent of respondents approved of the Republican leader’s performance, up from 42 percent in a prior Reuters/Ipsos survey carried out April 25-27. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Approval of Trump’s economic stewardship rose to 39 percent from 36 percent.
Trump began his term with a 47 percent approval rating, and saw his popularity tick lower as Americans worried about a series of trade wars he launched since taking office on January 20.
Trump’s moves to hike tariffs to historic levels on major trading partners, notably China, fueled stock market declines as many economists predicted a recession was looming.
In recent weeks, Trump has eased back on his sharpest trade actions and announced on Monday morning he was slashing tariffs on China. The benchmark S&P 500 stock index is up about 17 percent from its lowest closing of Trump’s second administration, hit soon after he unveiled sweeping tariffs.
Among the public, concerns about recession have also eased but remain high.
Some 69 percent of respondents in the new poll said they were concerned about a recession, down from 76 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted April 16-21. The share who said they worried about the stock market fell to 60 percent from 67 percent.
Trump has said blame for the country’s economic problems should fall on former President Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor. Inflation surged during Biden’s presidency amid the global economic chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, but trended lower toward the end of his presidency. Annual price inflation cooled in April, the Labor Department said on Tuesday, though economists continue to warn that Trump’s trade actions are likely to boost prices later in the year.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 59 percent of respondents said it would be Trump’s fault if the economy falls into recession this year, compared to 37 percent who said it would be Biden’s fault.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted nationwide online, surveyed 1,163 people.


Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees

Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees
Updated 14 May 2025
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Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees

Kabul says ready for ‘dialogue’ with US on Afghan refugees
  • The country has faced a major economic crisis since 2021 and is enduring the second worst humanitarian crisis in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations

KABUL: The Taliban government said Tuesday it was ready for “dialogue” with the Trump administration on the repatriation of Afghan refugees whose legal protections in the United States will be revoked in July.

Citing an improved security situation in Afghanistan, Washington announced Monday that the temporary protected status (TPS) designation for Afghanistan would expire on May 20 and the termination would take effect on July 12.

Kabul is “ready to engage in constructive dialogue with the US & other countries regarding repatriation of Afghans who no longer meet criteria to remain in host countries,” said Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on X.

The Taliban government has already offered assurances that those Afghans who fled the country as they stormed back to power in 2021 could safely return.

However, the United Nations has reported cases of executions and disappearances.

Taliban authorities have also squeezed women out of education, jobs and public life since 2021, creating what the UN has called “gender apartheid.”

The move by Washington could affect more than 11,000 Afghans, many of whom supported the United States during two decades of war and fled Taliban persecution, according to Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac.

“Afghanistan is the shared home of all Afghans, & all have the right to free movement,” Balkhi said in his statement.

The country has faced a major economic crisis since 2021 and is enduring the second worst humanitarian crisis in the world after Sudan, according to the United Nations.

More than 100,000 Afghans have returned home since neighboring Pakistan launched a new mass expulsion campaign in April.

More than 265,000 undocumented Afghans also returned from neighboring Iran between January and April, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

US federal law permits the government to grant TPS to foreign citizens who cannot safely return home because of war, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.

But since taking office President Donald Trump has moved to strip the designation from citizens of countries including Haiti and Venezuela as part of his broader crackdown on immigration.


White House slams Episcopal Church’s refusal to resettle white South Africans

White House slams Episcopal Church’s refusal to resettle white South Africans
Updated 14 May 2025
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White House slams Episcopal Church’s refusal to resettle white South Africans

White House slams Episcopal Church’s refusal to resettle white South Africans
  • The Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans

WASHINGTON: The White House questioned Tuesday the humanitarian commitment of the influential Episcopal Church after it refused to comply with a federal directive to help resettle white Afrikaners granted refugee status by the Trump administration.
Trump ran on an anti-immigrant platform and essentially halted refugee arrivals in the United States after taking office, but made an exception for white Afrikaners despite South Africa’s insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.
On Monday, around 50 white South Africans arrived for resettlement in the United States, after Trump granted them refugee status as victims of what he called a “genocide.”
That claim — oft-repeated by Trump’s Pretoria-born ally, billionaire Elon Musk — has been widely dismissed as absurd, including by the South African government.
On Monday, the Episcopal Church said it would end its refugee resettlement program with the US government rather than comply with orders to help resettle the white South Africans.
In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticized the decision as raising “serious questions about its  supposed commitment to humanitarian aid.”
She claimed white Afrikaners — who are primarily descendants of European colonizers and whose ethnic group dominated South African politics until apartheid was abolished in 1994 — had “faced unspeakable horrors.”
On Monday, the church had said it would wind up its refugee resettlement grant agreements — amounting to more than $50 million annually — with the US federal government rather than comply with Trump’s orders.
In a statement, the church’s presiding bishop was scathing in his criticism of the administration’s decision to grant the white South Africans refugee status.
“It has been painful to watch one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years,” said Sean W. Rowe.
Under eligibility guidelines published by the US embassy, applicants for US resettlement must either be of Afrikaner ethnicity or belong to a racial minority in South Africa.
The Episcopal Church said that it could not comply with Trump’s order “in light of our church’s steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.”
It said its programs with the US federal government would be wound up by the end of the fiscal year, but that its work on refugee resettlement would continue, including supporting recently arrived refugees from around the world.