(The Hill) — Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was pressed on the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, during a heated exchange at a town hall he held Tuesday.
Grassley discussed numerous topics during the Iowa event, including farmers, tariffs and congressional Republicans’ planned reconciliation bill that would seek to cut spending, extend President Trump’s tax cuts and provide money for border security, among other initiatives. But he participated in a particularly tense back-and-forth when discussing the case of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national.
“Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” one man asked Grassley, eliciting applause from others in attendance.
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“Why not?” he followed up after the Iowa senator said he wouldn’t.
Abrego Garcia has received national attention after the Trump administration acknowledged he was mistakenly deported back to El Salvador because of an “administrative error” and the Supreme Court has ruled the administration must “facilitate” his return.
But the Justice Department suspended the attorney who said the man’s removal was an error, and the administration has not appeared to take steps to bring him back to the U.S.
Grassley said returning Abrego Garcia isn’t a congressional power, to which various attendees responded that the Supreme Court had ruled that he should be returned to the U.S. and Trump must uphold the Constitution. They argued he is defying the nation’s highest court with his refusal.
“He just got an order from the Supreme Court, and he just said no,” another attendee said.
The senator said El Salvador is an independent country and its president isn’t subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Supreme Court, which was followed by jeers in the audience. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said during his visit to the U.S. on Monday he wouldn’t return Abrego Garcia.
Various attendees angrily responded with one man saying, “I’m p‑‑‑ed.”
Another noted the administration’s move to pay $6 million to El Salvador for accepting detainees the U.S. sends to the Central American country, saying, “We’re paying to keep him down there. We don’t have to pay them.”
Grassley then sought to move on to the next subject, but another man interjected, citing the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment granting the right to due process for every “person” and not just citizen.
“Why won’t you do your job, senator?” the man asked.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed Abrego Garcia is a “foreign terrorist” and member of the MS-13 gang, but his family has maintained he isn’t part of a gang and rather fled El Salvador as a teenager to escape gang violence.
Abrego Garcia had been living in Maryland and was protected by a court order from removal in 2019.
Another attendee asked the Republican lawmaker what he considers a “constitutional crisis” and quoted the oath that Grassley took upon being sworn in as a senator. He said he believes he is doing what the Constitution requires, referencing a bipartisan bill he introduced to increase the congressional role in regulating tariffs.
His town hall is the latest in which Republican members of Congress have received pushback from constituents over Trump’s policies, which has led to Democrats holding town halls in Republican-held districts, seeking to capitalize on the frustrated voters.
