(Radio Iowa) – U-S Senator Chuck Grassley says American citizens deserve due process and he says President Trump should explain why a Maryland man remains imprisoned in El Salvador. The U-S Justice Department admits it mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia, and the U-S Supreme Court ruled the U-S must “facilitate” his return. Grassley acknowledges several of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate may fly to El Salvador as soon as today (Wednesday) to plead for Garcia’s release. “That’s one way of doing it,” Grassley says. “The other way is telling the administration that you think they ought to follow through, or just be quiet because you think maybe when the president of El Salvador is president of an independent country and he’s not subject to the Supreme Court decision.” Grassley says President Trump should be working with the courts by offering his point of view.

“Now that doesn’t go as far as Chuck Grassley saying that our president can override the president of El Salvador,” Grassley says, “but he ought to at least be cooperating with the court on giving the explanations and the information that the court’s entitled to.” During a White House meeting with President Trump on Monday, the president of El Salvador said it would be “preposterous” to release Garcia from prison. In the same Oval Office meeting, President Trump suggested U-S citizens could be deported, but Grassley disagrees. “If you’re legally in the country, you’re entitled to due process and people that are illegally in the country are entitled to some due process,” Grassley says. “Obviously, U.S. citizens should not be deported.”

Senator Grassley (file)

During a town hall meeting in Fort Madison on Tuesday, Grassley said he’s trying to correct decades of Democratic leadership in the 20th century that are to blame for executive overreach.