GOP Senator Rips Trump Plan to Jail US-Born Criminals in El Salvador as Not ‘Moral’ — Hits White House for ‘Screw Up’ On Abrego Garcia Case
A Republican Senator is coming down hard on the idea floated by President Donald Trump to send American-born criminals to be jailed in El Salvador.
In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. John Kennedy called out the president’s proposal to send domestic criminals away.
“Do you think the law allows the President of the United States to send US citizens to a foreign prison?” Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker asked Kennedy.
“No, ma’am,” Kennedy said. “Nor does it — nor should it be considered appropriate or moral.”
Trump floated the idea on Monday during an Oval Office meeting with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele.
“The homegrowns are next,” Trump told Bukele. He added, “I don’t know what the laws are —we always have to obey the laws— but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters. I’d like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country, but you’ll have to be looking at the laws on that.”
As far as Senator Kennedy is concerned, the law is crystal clear.
“We have our own laws, we have the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution,” Kennedy said. “We shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries in my judgment.”
The Louisiana Senator went on to call out the White House over the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
“This was a screw up, in my opinion,” Kennedy said. “The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screw up. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador. He was sent to El Salvador.”
The White House has accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, though he has never been convicted of a crime. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the White House must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, but the Trump administration has made clear that he will not be brought back to the United States.
When pressed by Welker, Kennedy denied that the deportation of Abrego Garcia was part of a pattern by the administration. But he doubled down on the view that the White House erred in this case.
“It was a screw up,” Kennedy said again. “And I understand why the administration is bowed up and said, ‘We won’t admit it’s a mistake.’ Because if they do, they’ll have their throats torn out. But it was a screw up.”
Watch above, via NBC.
