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El Salvador’s leader has no plans to meet a visiting US Democratic senator, a high-level source close to President Nayib Bukele told CNN, as outrage grows over the mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from Maryland.
While Abrego Garcia had not been legally in the US prior to his deportation, a 2019 court order said he could not be returned to El Salvador.
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday in an attempt to see Abrego Garcia at the Cecot mega-prison.
The senator told reporters he met with Vice President Felix Ulloa, who told him El Salvador’s government had no evidence against Abrego Garcia.
Ulloa told CNN that Van Hollen’s characterization of their conversation was not fully accurate and that his remarks regarding there being “no evidence” were taken “out of context.”
The source told CNN that El Salvador does have criminal records of Abrego Garcia. He also said Abrego Garcia had tattoos that they say were gang-related and have since been covered up. CNN cannot independently confirm, and the source did not share any evidence.
CNN is reaching out to Abrego Garcia’s lawyers regarding the claims.
Last week, two government officials told CNN they have “further evidence of Abrego Garcia’s criminal ties and actions” in El Salvador — though they declined to provide evidence.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyer told CNN at the time: “In the absence of transparency or due process for Kilmar, such vague accusations should not carry weight, especially when they contradict a U.S. immigration judge’s determination that he was credible and warranted protection from removal to El Salvador. “
“The government of El Salvador has not provided any convictions or substantiated evidence to support its claims, and it is deeply concerning that these unverified allegations are being used to retroactively justify a deportation that violated court orders.”
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins today vigorously defended his agency’s plan to lay off tens of thousands of employees, and pushed back against claims by Democrats in Congress, and some veterans, that a brand-new VA health clinic in Virginia is vastly under-staffed.
“Since 2015, we’ve added hundreds of billions in money and we’ve also added hundreds of thousands of positions … but what we’ve added to is a bureaucracy and not, in many times, into the condition of handling patient care at the front end,” Collins said, when asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper about the planned layoffs. “There’s a lot of jobs that no one would even know is at the VA that has nothing to do with our patient care, nothing to do with disability claims, that are frankly clogging up the system in many ways.”
CNN has previously reported the VA plans to terminate 80,000 jobs, although Collins has repeatedly pledged that veterans’ benefits will not be affected by the staffing cuts.
Tapper also asked Collins about concerns over staffing at the new Fredericksburg Health Care Center in Virginia, which officially opened in late February at a cost of over $300 million. The VA has touted it as a state-of-the-art facility that would serve tens of thousands of veterans each year and create hundreds of jobs.
But Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman who represents Fredericksburg, said in an April 10 letter sent to Collins and obtained by CNN: “To date, the new facility is only staffed at one third of its capacity.” Vindman and Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, have both publicly expressed concern that hiring freezes and layoffs could compromise staffing and service at the new facility.
Collins said he was at the facility this past week. “There’s a lot of that facility that’s not been built out,” he said. “But that is the way we build out these facilities. We do so in stages and in phases.”
The Trump administration is doubling down on defending its deportations of undocumented migrants, including the Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador.
The federal judge overseeing the case said yesterday she would allow for expedited fact-finding to help her figure out whether the administration is complying with her order that it “facilitate” his return from one of the country’s notorious mega-prisons.
Also, another federal judge ruled today that “probable cause exists” to hold administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.
Here are the top immigration headlines:
- Democratic lawmaker visits El Salvador: Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said he met today with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Ulloa on the case of the wrongfully deported man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. He said he was not able to visit him in prison and claimed that the Trump administration was lying about his alleged gang affiliation to “cover up” his mistaken deportation.
- Administration defense: President Donald Trump said on Truth Social today that it’s his job to remove “killers and thugs” from the United States. Attorney General Pam Bondi also reiterated Abrego Garcia is “not coming back to our country.”
- Other reactions: The wife of Abrego Garcia responded to the administration’s decision to publicize her 2021 civil protective order filing, saying it didn’t move forward and the couple worked through the situation privately.
- Mom speaks at briefing: The White House invited Patty Morin, whose daughter was killed by a fugitive from El Salvador, to speak today at the White House press briefing. Officials have sought to draw attention to Morin’s murder as controversy has grown over the case of Abrego Garcia.
- US plans for El Salvador prison: Two White House officials familiar with the discussions said the Department of Justice and White House Counsel’s Office are reviewing the viability of Trump’s desire to send Americans who have committed violent crimes to El Salvador’s mega-prison. The officials said Trump is very serious about the idea.
- Court ruling: The Justice Department appealed a ruling from US District Judge James Boasberg which found that “probable cause exists” to hold administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.
- Data sharing: Another federal judge, District Judge Dabney Friedrich, is scrutinizing the data-sharing deal between the Internal Revenue Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said she is concerned that if she doesn’t step in anyone who gets deported based on the policy “may never” have a chance to contest it in US courts.
- Student visas: More than 600 international students, faculty and researchers across at least 90 universities have recently had their visas revoked by the Trump administration, according to a CNN review of court filings, statements from attorneys and announcements from schools around the country.
@cnnSen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) met with El Salvador Vice President Félix Ulloa to push for the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and is being held in CECOT, a maximum-security mega-prison. #elsalvador #immigration #congress
This post has been updated with news of the Justice Department appealing Boasberg’s ruling.
CNN’s Elise Hammond, Lauren Fox, Hannah Rabinowitz, Kit Maher, Javon Huynh, Devan Cole, Katelyn Polantz, Alayna Treene, Samantha Waldenberg, Marshall Cohen, Donald Judd, Priscilla Alvarez and Michael Williams contributed reporting to this post.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon told CNN today that the Trump administration is “open to negotiation” with Harvard University as sources tell CNN that the Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the Ivy League university’s tax-exempt status.
While McMahon contended that she does not know whether the university’s tax-exempt status will be revoked, she argued that “it was certainly worth looking into.” She said her guess is that the IRS is looking to similar statuses held by other universities.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value at Harvard after the school said it would not follow policy demands from the administration, which included eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
CNN has reported that a final decision on rescinding the university’s tax exemption is expected soon, according to sources. If the administration moves forward in doing so, it would be an extraordinary step of retaliation.
Asked by CNN’s Kasie Hunt whether the university could do anything to prevent the funding cuts and possible revocation of the tax exempt status, McMahon said: “We’re open to negotiation and to talking to Harvard and to all universities.”
CNN’s Evan Perez, Alyana Treene and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.
The wife of the Maryland man who the US government mistakenly deported to El Salvador acknowledged that she had filed a temporary protective order against him four years ago, but said it was out of an abundance of caution and that the couple had worked through their issues.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura said she sought a civil protective order after a disagreement with Abrego Garcia, noting that she had survived a previous relationship that included domestic violence. She did not appear at a court hearing and the matter did not proceed.
“Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process,” she said in the statement to CNN. “We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling. Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.”
“That is not a justification for ICE’s action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation,” Vasquez Sura said. “Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”
Vasquez Sura released the statement after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a copy of a protective order on X that she requested against her husband in 2021. The DHS posted portions of the order on X Wednesday, describing Abrego Garcia as an “MS-13 gang member” who “is not a sympathetic figure.”
Abrego Garcia’s wife and lawyers have denied he is part of a gang.
The White House brought Patty Morin, the mother of murdered Maryland hiker Rachel Morin, as a “special guest” to today’s briefing with reporters.
The Trump administration has sought to draw attention to Morin’s murder this week as controversy has grown surrounding the administration’s handling of mistakenly deported Maryland man Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
A fugitive from El Salvador, Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez, was convicted on Monday in the 2023 slaying of Morin. She was killed along a hiking trail in Bel Air in August of 2023, according to authorities.
In an interview with Fox News last night, Patty Morin said that she believed “justice was served” after Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction.
Morin, along with her son, Michael and granddaughter Clementine, visited the White House in January for the signing of the Laken Riley Act, where Trump personally thanked her for attending the ceremony in remarks ahead of the signing.
The “angel mother” also joined Trump on campaign stops in Arizona and Pennsylvania, while Trump offered her a shoutout during his RNC acceptance speech in Milwaukee.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik is considering a run for governor of New York, according to a person familiar with her thinking — a decision that could once again scramble the House GOP leadership team.
Stefanik’s interest in challenging New York Gov. Kathy Hochul comes just three weeks after the congresswoman learned that President Donald Trump would no longer appoint her to her long-time dream role of United Nations ambassador. Since then, she has been struggling to regain her position of authority in the House.
Stefanik had been the No. 4 House Republican, but she left that leadership spot last fall in anticipation of joining Trump’s administration. Days after she was told she had to remain in the narrowly divided chamber, she and House Speaker Mike Johnson worked out a new position for her as the “chairwoman of House Republican leadership,” though her exact role was not defined in detail. It also wasn’t precisely clear whether she could remain on all of her committees — including her coveted seat on the House Intelligence Committee.
That internal jockeying caused some drama within Johnson’s leadership team, as some on his team privately said they were caught off guard by the announcement and were unsure what her new position would be.
Now, the New York congresswoman is offering her party another curveball as she eyes the governor’s mansion in Albany.
As evidence that she may have the state’s top job on her mind, Stefanik sent out a statement this afternoon commenting on Hochul’s low approval ratings.
Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Ulloa today to discuss the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to the Central American country.
Van Hollen said he was unable to visit Abrego Garcia in the maximum-security prison where he is being held in El Salvador nor did he meet with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele because he was out of the country. He vowed to “keep pressing” for answers and the man’s release.
Van Hollen, speaking to reporters from El Salvador, said the meeting started with a “point of agreement” that the countries should work together to “crack down” on gangs like MS-13. However, he said the case of Abrego Garcia “does not have to do with MS-13.”
Van Hollen said the Trump administration has not presented US courts with evidence that the man was part of the gang, but instead, it was a “lie to cover up what they did.”
The lawmaker said he specifically asked Ulloa if he could meet with Abrego Garcia or at least speak with him over the phone or via video conferencing. Again, Van Hollen said the request was denied. Pressed on whether he had concerns about Abrego Garcia’s health, Van Hollen said: “I don’t know about his health status which is why I wanted to meet with him directly.”
The lawmaker said he asked Ulloa why El Salvador was continuing to hold Abrego Garcia despite the absence of evidence that the man is connected to MS-13 or has committed a crime. He said the vice president echoed comments made by Bukele earlier this week at the White House that El Salvador “can’t smuggle” Abrego Garcia to the US and that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador to keep the man at the mega-prison CECOT.
“I said I am not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States, I am simply asking him to open the door of CECOT and let this innocent man walk out,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said he anticipates other members of Congress will come to El Salvador in the future to discuss the case and plans to ask the United States embassy to ask the government of El Salvador to arrange a call with Abrego Garcia.
This post has been updated with additional details from Van Hollen’s trip.
A federal judge is closely scrutinizing the data-sharing deal between the Internal Revenue Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which the Trump administration hopes will speed up deportations of undocumented immigrants.
At a hearing, District Judge Dabney Friedrich said she has concerns that, if she doesn’t step in to potentially rein in the policy, anyone who gets deported based on the “unprecedented” data-sharing “may never” have a chance to contest it in US courts.
But she also rigorously challenged lawyers for the immigrant rights groups who filed the lawsuit last month in hopes of blocking the IRS from turning over confidential taxpayer information, like home addresses, to federal immigration authorities.
Friedrich repeatedly pressed the Justice Department to explain how the arrangement complies with the federal tax code – which permits data-sharing to aid ongoing criminal investigations, but not to facilitate deportations, which is a civil enforcement mechanism.
She asked what legal recourse would be available to deportees “if all of this was pretextual to do civil enforcement proceedings.” She added, “If the larger endgame is to circumvent” the strict disclosure restrictions in the federal tax code, then “that would be a problem.”
“Is this not just a vehicle to execute removals?” she asked.
Justice Department lawyer Joseph Sergi said the deal was carefully crafted to comply with the law, and requests for private data will only target people under investigation for illegally defying orders to leave the country. But, he conceded that the government could, after they locate an undocumented immigrant, drop any criminal probe and quickly deport them.
“I’m just not seeing how this helps you,” Friedrich responded.
During the hearing, however, the judge also questioned whether the groups that filed the lawsuit even had standing to bring the case. And she seemed unimpressed with the limited evidence they put forward to back up their claims that the administration is trying to circumvent the law.
Democratic state treasurers from Colorado, Washington, California, New Mexico and Illinois expressed deep concerns about the impacts of President Donald Trump’s trade war on farmers and the agriculture industry during a press call today with Americans for Responsible Growth.
“Left unchecked Trump’s trade war will shutter mom and pop producers across the country. We must put an end to the chaos before it causes lasting damage,” Colorado Treasurer Dave Young said.
Minnesota Auditor Julie Blaha said that many farmers in her state are concerned about the uncertainty the administration has caused with its tariff policy.
Blaha said that one of the concerns farmers have is losing customers.
“They may lose Chinese customers going to say Brazil instead of Minnesota. Now, even if Trump reverses course … you still may not get that customer back, you know, it’s hard to get someone back once you’ve lost them,” she said.
Blaha noted that it’s unclear if the administration will use any revenue collected from the tariffs to “bail out farmers.”
“Now the kind of bailout we had in 2018 after tariffs, in agriculture, would not be big enough to balance out what we’re going through right now,” she said. “Not only do we need a plan for what the tariffs are going to be, I think we need a plan for what Trump is going do with the tariffs.”
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed foreign countries pay tariffs levied on them, but Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted that is not the case.
As a result of the tariffs that Trump has enacted, with likely more to come, “unemployment is likely to go up as the economy slows,” Powell said today at an event hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago.
“In all likelihood,” inflation is likely to go up as well, he said. That is to say that a portion of the burden of tariffs is going to be “paid by the public.”
It’s all but certain that prices will rise from tariffs, Powell said, but it’s still a question as to whether that will cause overall inflation levels to accelerate and to what extent.
All three major stock indexes moved lower as Powell spoke, with the Dow dropping by more than 700 points, or 1.7%, at one point.
Colin Carroll, the chief of staff of Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, has been placed on administrative leave amid an ongoing investigation, two defense sources said. He is the third such official reported to be placed on leave this week.
Carroll was escorted out of the Pentagon, one defense source told CNN.
“This is a purge of people who had disagreements with the Pentagon chief of staff,” the defense source added.
Carroll was sworn in earlier this year. His being placed on leave comes a day after two other senior political appointees of Hegseth’s — senior adviser Dan Caldwell and deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick — were also put on administrative leave. Caldwell is being investigated over an alleged unauthorized disclosure, CNN previously reported.
The White House intends to seek “immediate appellate relief” from Judge James Boasberg’s ruling today that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, an official said.
“The President is 100% committed to ensuring that terrorists and criminal illegal migrants are no longer a threat to Americans and their communities across the country,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote in a post on X.
Any challenge to take this decision to an appeals court has not yet been filed.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is bracing for a potentially ugly chapter ahead for the US economy, due in large part to monstrous tariff increases.
“The level of the tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated. The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” Powell said in prepared remarks for an event hosted by the Economic Club of Chicago.
For months, Powell avoided sharing his assessment of how tariffs President Donald Trump proposed enacting would impact the economy, often conveying that central bankers would cross that bridge if or when it came to it. With 145% tariffs on Chinese goods and a baseline 10% tariff on most countries’ imports on top of 25% tariffs for cars and aluminum and steel, that bridge is very much here.
According to his prepared remarks, Powell said that despite looming uncertainty about the tariff landscape and how it will spill over into the economy, tariffs are “highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation. The inflationary effects could also be more persistent.”
The Fed head is set to take part in a moderated discussion after delivering his keynote speech.
The Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office are reviewing the viability, including the legal justification, of President Donald Trump’s stated desire to send American citizens who have committed violent crimes to El Salvador’s mega-prison, two White House officials familiar with the discussions told CNN.
The officials added that Trump is very serious when he says he wants to remove “homegrown” criminals from the US.
One of the officials said the president views this as a winning issue — and one that he was elected on. The official recalled Trump referring to it as an “eighty-twenty” issue, meaning he believes 80% of Americans are in favor of his proposed idea to send US citizens convicted of crimes abroad.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced today he’s shutting down the State Department’s initiative meant to counter disinformation, alleging it was censoring Americans.
The State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference initiative was previously known as the Global Engagement Center.
It was created by executive order in March 2016 to lead “interagency efforts to carry out U.S.-government-sponsored counterterrorism communications to foreign publics.” Its mandate was broadened by Congress to combat state and non-state propaganda and disinformation.
Congressional Republicans had raised concerns about the office and its affiliation with organizations that lawmakers argue were restricting free speech. In December 2024, Congress did not extend the GEC’s mandate, and the office shut down, with its activities transferred to the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation initiative.
“It is the responsibility of every government official to continuously work to preserve and protect the freedom for Americans to exercise their free speech,” he said in the statement.
US District Judge James Boasberg ruled today that “probable cause exists” to hold Trump administration officials in criminal contempt for violating his orders in mid-March halting the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members.
The judge is still deciding punishment and the next steps he may take and is given the Justice Department some opportunity to respond.
The situation has been a major political and legal flashpoint for the Trump White House in its efforts to carry out a historic deportation campaign, especially in mid-March when it sent three planes of migrants to a prison in El Salvador.
“The Court ultimately determines that the Government’s actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its Order, sufficient for the Court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt,” Boasberg wrote in a lengthy ruling detailing his decision.
“The Court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given Defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions,” he continued. “None of their responses has been satisfactory.”
China is open to trade negotiations with the United States but any talks should be based on “respect” as well as greater “consistency and reciprocity” from the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the Chinese government’s thinking.
Before US President Donald Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2, China had designated a point person for talks with the US, the person also said, adding that Beijing was unclear about the right contact on the US side. Trump may want to be his own negotiator, but this isn’t compatible with how China works, the source said.
Referencing hawkish or even hostile views on China expressed by Trump’s Cabinet members, the person said Trump’s failure to reject such views suggested he condoned them despite his public assertions about respecting and liking Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Earlier this month, China slammed US Vice President JD Vance for his comments about “Chinese peasants” in an interview that has drawn widespread ire and ridicule on China’s internet.
Defending Trump’s tariffs, which have sparked a global trade war and fueled economic anxiety across the world, Vance railed against “the globalist economy,” saying it was based on “incurring a huge amount of debt to buy things that other countries make for us.” He added: “We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.”
China also wants its own concerns to be addressed by the US, especially on issues like Washington’s growing tech restrictions targeting China, as well as Taiwan, the self-governing island claimed by Beijing, the source said.
China wants no more “provocation” from Washington, the person added, especially given what they described as Beijing’s efforts to address US concerns, such as the flow of fentanyl.
The second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the US are expected to be in Rome on Saturday, according to a person familiar with the planning. There had been earlier discussion of having them take place again in Oman.
This would mean Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will be traveling to Rome from Paris, where he will be later this week for talks on Ukraine with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Despite Rome being the planned location for the Iran talks, Oman is still expected to play a mediating role, the person familiar with the discussion told CNN.
Oman’s foreign minister acted as a mediator last weekend, shuttling between the two sides in indirect talks. At the end, Witkoff spoke directly with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. For now, a similar format is expected, the source said.
Iran will likely expect clarification from Witkoff after he appeared to flip flop on the US position this week. He told Fox News that Iran shouldn’t need to enrich uranium above 3.67% to run a civilian program, appearing to accept that Iran would maintain a nuclear program. Then on Tuesday he took a more maximalist position, posting on X that “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”
Vice President JD Vance is traveling later this week to Italy and three cities in India, according to a news release from his office.
Over the course of the trip, which spans April 18-24, Vance will meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Vance is expected to “discuss shared economic and geopolitical priorities with leaders in each country” on visits to Rome, New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, according to the release.
This trip will mark Vance’s second to Europe, after first appearing in Paris for an annual AI summit and at the Munich Security Conference, where he delivered a fiery speech accusing Europe of turning away from “some of its most fundamental values,” like free speech, and warned about “the threat from within.”
The second family will also attend the trip and “participate in engagements at cultural sites.” Second lady Usha Vance is the daughter of Indian immigrants.
The Vances most recently were deployed to Greenland, where they visited the Pituffik Space Base after the second lady’s initial plans to visit a dogsled race were scrapped. The vice president slammed Denmark for not doing “a good job by the people of Greenland” and asserted that the territory would be far safer “coming under the United States’ security umbrella.”
