White House rages at 'appalling' attempt to return wrongly deported man from El Salvador

The White House has hit out at an "appalling" attempt by a Democratic senator to return a father wrongly deported to El Salvador.

Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to speak to the country's leaders about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was removed from the US by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation. Washington acknowledged Mr Garcia was deported due to an "administrative error".

The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang. Mr Garcia's lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.

Speaking about Mr Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Democrats "still refuse to accept the will of the American people". She alleged Mr Garcia was an "illegal alien MS-13 terrorist" and claimed his wife petitioned for court protection against him after alleged incidents of domestic violence.

After outlining the allegations against Mr Garcia, she went on: "All of that is not enough to stop the Democrat Party from their lies. "The number one issue they are focused on right now is bringing back this illegal alien terrorist to America.

"It's appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats are plotting his trip to El Salvador today, are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens." After making a statement, Ms Leavitt introduced Patty Morin, who described graphic details of her daughter's murder by an immigrant from El Salvador. ???? Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app ???? Rachel Morin was raped and murdered by Victor Martinez-Hernandez along a popular hiking trail northeast of Baltimore.

Afterwards, Ms Leavitt left without taking any questions from reporters. Senator travels to El Salvador Mr Van Hollen met with the El Salvador vice president during his trip to the Central American country.

But he did not meet with President Nayib Bukele, who publicly met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week, nor did he meet Mr Garcia himself. In a post on X, he said he would continue to fight for Mr Garcia's return.

During Mr Bukele's trip to the White House earlier this week, he said he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling "a terrorist into the United States". Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, who it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.

Judge's contempt warning It comes hours after a US federal judge warned that he could hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. The comments are an escalation in a row which began last month when US district judge James E Boasberg issued an order temporarily blocking the deportations.

However, lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air - one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Mr Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to be turned around, but the directive was not included in his written order.

The Trump administration then denied refusing to comply. Charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News, Sky's US partner network, reported.

Read more from Sky News:Arsenal reach Champions League semi-finalWhat you can't now bring into Britain from EU under new rulesWoman arrested after 93-year-old found dead However, that could create an uncomfortable situation for the department, which is headed by the attorney general - a position appointed by the president. If the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.

The judge wrote: "The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders - especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it." He gave the government a 23 April deadline. White House director of communications Steven Cheung said the administration would seek "immediate appellate relief" - a review of a decision within a lower court before the case has been resolved..