Congressman Warns ‘Any American’ Could Be ‘Abducted,’ Deported, and ‘Tortured’ Under Trump
Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) warned that “any American” could be “abducted” and “tortured” under President Donald Trump’s administration during an appearance on CNN Tuesday.
Torres’s comments came during a segment with Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room during which he discussed his Rescue Act, which would require the Trump administration to return any individuals who have been wrongfully deported back to the United States. The administration is currently facing pushback over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man the Trump’s team insists is an MS-13 gang member, even though it has admitted that he was deported by “error.”
Torres said he does not expect much Republican support for his legislation, but warned that all Americans should be concerned about the lack of due process some are receiving amid mass deportation efforts.
The congressman said:
I’m skeptical that we will have Republican support because the Republican party is fully captive to Donald Trump. But of all the abuses of Donald Trump’s presidency, there is no greater threat to liberty than his complete contempt for due process. You know, without due process, what stops Donald Trump from wrongfully labeling any American as a non-citizen gang member and abducting them in the dead of night and rendering them to a foreign prison to be tortured? You know, Donald Trump’s actions set a dangerous precedent for our democracy.
On Monday, Trump alarmed many by suggesting to the president of El Salvador that “home-growns” could be next to be deported to the country’s megaprison.
Torres said his legislation would mean a country like El Salvador would be cut off from the United States if they refuse to comply with a federal court order requesting the return of a deported individual. The consequences, Torres said, should be “swift and severe.”
The president of El Salvador claimed during a visit to the White House that he does not have the power to return Garcia.
“If there is a foreign leader like the president of El Salvador who refuses to comply with an order from a federal court to release someone who’s been wrongfully deported, there should be geopolitical consequences, and those consequences should be swift and severe,” he said. “It should include the suspension of relations with the United States and the termination of foreign assistance.”
Watch above via CNN.
