Los Angeles leaders join advocacy for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

The ongoing advocacy for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Latino man living in Maryland with his wife and three children, who, despite having no prior criminal record, was deported to El Salvador more than a month ago, continues. 

Los Angeles leaders have joined the various immigrant rights organizations and state leaders who ask for the return of Abrego Garcia, detained on March 15. 

L.A. City council members Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez demanded the immediate return of Garcia, calling the situation an “illegal and inhumane deportation.” 

“This is a gross violation of human rights and due process and a deliberate act of state-sanctioned violence rooted in a xenophobic agenda that criminalizes and dehumanizes immigrants,” the councilmembers said in a joint statement. 

As CALÒ News recently reported, other local leaders, including Representative Robert Garcia (CA-42), have also taken action to advocate for Abrego Garcia's freedom. 

Garcia, who took a recent trip to El Salvador, joined other lawmakers to denounce the “administrative error” that the administration called his incarceration and deportation. But the fight to bring him home has not been successful, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration should help "facilitate" his return to his home. 

Abrego Garcia has never been charged or found guilty of a crime in the United States, according to records. Still, the Trump administration has claimed that his arrest was due to his membership in the Salvadoran MS-13 gang.  His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and his attorney deny the accusations. 

Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez said that despite the arrest happening in Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s arrest and deportation are deeply personal to many L.A. city residents and undocumented families. 

“The pain of this injustice has reverberated across the country, particularly here in Los Angeles, which is home to the largest Salvadoran population in the U.S.,” they stated. “As co-authors of L.A.’s sanctuary city ordinance—and as people whose families have lived through the trauma of forced displacement—this is personal for us. We carry a deep responsibility—not just to bear witness, but to stand in defense of our communities. And if this can happen to Kilmar—a union apprentice, a father protected by law—it can happen to anyone.”

Trump recently met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who said he wouldn’t be sending Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. As of today, Abrego Garcia is still in a El Salvador prison facility. 

“We stand with Kilmar’s loved ones, his community, and with immigrants across the nation… We will not rest until Kilmar is free,”  Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez said.