Maryland senator meets Kilmar Ábrego García in El Salvador amid battle over US return
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with news that Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen met in El Salvador with Kilmar Ábrego García, 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 Ábrego García’s wife “to pass along his message of love”.
The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Ábrego García, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the US.
It was not clear how the meeting was arranged, where they met or what will happen to Ábrego García. 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 Trump administration’s claim that it can’t do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the US “should be shocking,” a federal appeals court said Thursday in a blistering order that ratchets up the escalating conflict between the government’s executive and judicial branches.
A three-judge panel from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to suspend a judge’s decision to order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her instruction to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III, who was nominated by Republican president Ronald Reagan, wrote that he and his two colleagues “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.”
For the full report, see here:
In other news:
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James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee, and Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican leadership, have launched an investigation into Harvard University, accusing the university of a “lack of compliance with civil rights laws”.
-
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield.
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The supreme court said it will hear arguments next month over Donald Trump’s bid to restrict automatic birthright citizenship.
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In their unanimous opinion issued today, a US appeals court warned the Trump administration that battles against the judiciary could undermine public confidence.
-
After weeks of strong rhetoric, the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he thought trade deals could be finished in the “next three or four weeks”.
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Trump on Thursday extended a government-wide federal hiring freeze that was set to expire this weekend.
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The Washington DC headquarters for the Department of Housing and Urban Development may soon be up for sale.
Key events
Joanna Walters
Donald Trump retook the White House vowing to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history”.
The administration has set about further militarizing the US-Mexico border and targeting asylum seekers and refugees while conducting raids in undocumented communities and spreading fear.
Critics are outraged, if not surprised. But few expected the new legal chapter that unfolded next: a multi-pronged crackdown on certain people seen as opponents of the US president’s ideological agenda. This assault has come in the context of wider attacks on higher education, the courts and the constitution.
Here are some of the most high-profile individual cases that have captured the world’s attention so far, mostly involving documented people targeted by the Trump administration in the course of its unlawful power grab.
A federal court yesterday denied the Trump administration’s effort to appeal a judge’s order for sworn testimony by government officials to determine if they complied with her instruction to facilitate the return of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.
In a blistering order, a three-judge panel from the 4th US circuit court of appeals unanimously refused to suspend Judge Paula Xinis’s order.
The Trump administration’s claim it cannot do anything to free Ábrego García and return him to the US “should be shocking”, they wrote.
It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order.
The government’s unwillingness to bring Ábrego García back “should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear”, the judges wrote.
The supreme court said yesterday it would hear arguments on Donald Trump’s efforts to end birthright citizenship next month.
Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for the children of people who are in the US without documentation has been halted nationwide by three district courts around the country. Appeals courts have declined to disturb those rulings.
The court said it would hear arguments in the case on 15 May, with a decision likely by late June or early July.
Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the American civil war in the constitution’s 14th amendment:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order seeking to prevent children born in the US, but without at least one parent who is a lawful permanent resident or American citizen, from being eligible for US citizenship.
Trump says Maryland senator ‘looked like a fool’ in El Salvador
Donald Trump also posted about Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen’s meeting with Kilmar Ábrego García, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador, accusing the Democratic senator of being a “grandstander”.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote:
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone.
The Trump administration has dug in on its insistence that it cannot do anything to free Ábrego García from an El Salvador prison and return him to the US.
Van Hollen’s trip has become a partisan flashpoint as Democrats have seized on Ábrego García’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.
Donald Trump praised Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni a day after welcoming her at the White House.
Trump, posting on Truth Social this morning, wrote:
Prime Minister Georgia Meloni of Italy was great yesterday in her visit to the White House. She loves her country, and the impression she left on everyone was FANTASTIC!!!
Vance says he is ‘optimistic’ the US can end Ukraine war
Angela Giuffrida
The US is optimistic that it can end “the very brutal war” between Russia and Ukraine, Vice-President JD Vance said before a bilateral meeting with the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Friday.
The meeting comes less than 24 hours after the pair met in Washington. Vance said:
I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine … even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on.
Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close.
His comments came a few hours after the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Donald Trump would walk away from trying to clinch a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there were clear signs that one could be done.
Vance, who is in the Italian capital for the Easter weekend, added that the talks with Meloni would also focus on “trade negotiations, not only between Italy and the US but also with the EU”.
After the meeting, the pair will have lunch with the Italian deputy prime ministers, Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani. Vance will also meet Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state.
Trump to visit Italy in ‘very near future’ after meeting with Meloni
Donald Trump has accepted Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s invitation to pay an official visit to Italy in the “very near future”, a joint statement by the leaders said on Friday.
The statement came a day after the two leaders met at the White House in an attempt by Meloni to bridge the gap between the EU and US amid trade tariff tensions.
According to the joint statement, Trump and Meloni “confirmed their resolve to promote a mutually beneficial relationship and further strengthen the US-Italy strategic alliance across security, economic, and technological issues”.
As we reported earlier, Vice-President JD Vance arrived in Rome earlier today for meetings with Meloni and to attend Easter weekend events at the Vatican.
Chris Van Hollen, Democratic senator from Maryland, on Thursday met with Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man wrongfully deported to El Salvador.
Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on X, writing:
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance.
He added that he had called Ábrego García’s wife “to pass along his message of love”.
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return. pic.twitter.com/U9y2gZpxCb
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 18, 2025
The meeting came in the hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry into the El Salvador mega-prison Terrorism Confinement Center, or Cecot, while he was trying to check on Ábrego García’s wellbeing and attempting to push for his release.
Several other Democratic lawmakers have signaled they would like to visit El Salvador and Cecot, including Adriano Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic caucus, and Robert Garcia, Yassamin Ansari and Maxwell Alejandro Frost, all members of the investigative House oversight committee.
Delia Ramirez of the House homeland security committee has also asked for a visit to Cecot.
Chris Stein
The Democratic senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker, plans to travel to El Salvador, a source familiar with his itinerary said, as Democrats seek to pressure the Trump administration to return Kilmar Ábrego García, the wrongly deported Maryland resident.
Booker’s trip to the Central American country would come after the Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen traveled there this week to meet with his constituent.
Booker wrote on X earlier this week:
The Supreme Court was clear: the Trump administration must act to facilitate the return of Kilmar Ábrego García to the United States. There is no room for debate – yet Trump is refusing, in defiance of a lawful court order.
Every member of Congress should be standing up for the Constitution and demanding that the administration act to return Mr. Ábrego García to the U.S. and to his family.”
Booker, who ran for president in 2020 and is viewed as a potential candidate again three years from now, has been particularly outspoken against Donald Trump.
Earlier this month, he delivered a speech from the Senate floor warning of the “grave and urgent” danger presented by his presidency that ran for 25 hours and five minutes – the longest such speech ever.
Employees supporting Musk space launches spared from Doge cuts
Tom Perkins
Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” and the Trump administration have spared the jobs of US Department of Transportation employees who provide support services for spacecraft launches by Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Starlink – a revelation that raises a new round of conflict of interest questions around Doge.
In its most recent buyout announcement, the transportation department did not note that the positions spared supported Musk’s and others’ space operations.
But the fiscal year 2025 transportation department budget reviewed by the Guardian details funding for positions in pipeline management, transportation management, air traffic control and cybersecurity that the document states are critical for commercial space operations, including SpaceX, Starlink and other entities.
The decision to keep launch support staff employed while broadly cutting potentially thousands of other positions at the agency has raised fresh ethical questions about Musk and Doge’s aggressive assault on the federal workforce.
Rachel Leingang
Republicans in nearly half of state legislatures have proposed bills to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote.
Conservatives in California are pushing for a voter ID ballot measure that would require citizenship verification to register to vote and photo identification to get a ballot.
A Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania filed a bill to create a voter ID in the swing state, praising voters in Wisconsin that voted to approve a new ID law in the midwestern battleground state.
Donald Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote last year, but his win hasn’t stopped the ongoing Republican quest to restrict access to elections. In fact, Republicans in state legislatures across the country have been emboldened by the president’s calls to secure US elections, even with no evidence that voter fraud is a legitimate problem.
They have filed bills under the pretense of election integrity, including stricter voter ID provisions, documentary proof of citizenship requirements, hurdles for citizens’ ballot measures, restrictions on voter eligibility and the mail voting process, and pre-emptions that would make ranked choice voting illegal.
US ready to abandon Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress, says Marco Rubio
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said Friday that the US may “move on” from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days, after months of efforts have failed to bring an end to the fighting.
He spoke in Paris after landmark talks among US, Ukrainian and European officials produced outlines for steps toward peace and appeared to make some long-awaited progress, AP reported.
A new meeting is expected next week in London, and Rubio suggested that could be decisive in determining whether the Trump administration continues its involvement.
Rubio told reporters upon departure:
We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on.
“It’s not our war,” Rubio said. “We have other priorities to focus on.”
He said the US administration wants to decide “in a matter of days.”
US vice-president JD Vance arrived in Rome on Friday for meetings with the Vatican No. 2 and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, fresh off the Italian leader’s visit to the White House a day earlier, AP reports.
Meloni, who has positioned herself as a bridge between the US and Europe, received praise from president Donald Trump for her crackdown on migration during a meeting at the Oval Office on Thursday.
Vance, who attended the meetings, was scheduled to meet with the Italian leader Friday in Rome and planned to attend Easter weekend events at the Vatican.
He was scheduled to meet with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the White House said.
Maryland senator meets Kilmar Ábrego García in El Salvador amid battle over US return
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with news that Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen met in El Salvador with Kilmar Ábrego García, 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 Ábrego García’s wife “to pass along his message of love”.
The lawmaker did not provide an update on the status of Ábrego García, whose attorneys are fighting to force the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the US.
It was not clear how the meeting was arranged, where they met or what will happen to Ábrego García. 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 Trump administration’s claim that it can’t do anything to free Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison and return him to the US “should be shocking,” a federal appeals court said Thursday in a blistering order that ratchets up the escalating conflict between the government’s executive and judicial branches.
A three-judge panel from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to suspend a judge’s decision to order sworn testimony by Trump administration officials to determine if they complied with her instruction to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.
Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III, who was nominated by Republican president Ronald Reagan, wrote that he and his two colleagues “cling to the hope that it is not naïve to believe our good brethren in the Executive Branch perceive the rule of law as vital to the American ethos.”
For the full report, see here:
In other news:
-
James Comer, the chair of the House oversight committee, and Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican leadership, have launched an investigation into Harvard University, accusing the university of a “lack of compliance with civil rights laws”.
-
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and two partners have emerged as frontrunners to win a crucial part of Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense shield.
-
The supreme court said it will hear arguments next month over Donald Trump’s bid to restrict automatic birthright citizenship.
-
In their unanimous opinion issued today, a US appeals court warned the Trump administration that battles against the judiciary could undermine public confidence.
-
After weeks of strong rhetoric, the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he thought trade deals could be finished in the “next three or four weeks”.
-
Trump on Thursday extended a government-wide federal hiring freeze that was set to expire this weekend.
-
The Washington DC headquarters for the Department of Housing and Urban Development may soon be up for sale.