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Happy Friday! What a beautiful spring day it is. 🌷
In today’s issue:
- Senate Democrat visits Abrego Garcia
- Salvadoran president mocks Van Hollen
- ICE holds U.S. citizen as ‘unauthorized alien’
- FSU shooting latest
PROGRAMMING NOTE The Hill’s 12:30 Report will not publish next week. We will return April 28. Happy Easter, friends! 🐰
FIRST 100 DAYS
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador and met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to the Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador. 📸 Abrego Garcia and Van Hollen meeting
Keep in mind: Van Hollen had been twice denied the chance to speak with Abrego Garcia, both in person and by phone.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked their meeting. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador,” Bukele posted on X, with several photos.
And Trump slammed it too: “Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “GRANDSTANDER!!!”
➤ DO CONSERVATIVES BACK TRUMP ON THIS?:
A small but growing number of conservatives are critical of the Trump administration’s handling of the Abrego Garcia case, especially because the Supreme Court ordered his return and the administration has not complied. Read more in The Washington Post
“The Trump administration’s argument that the mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 is based largely on a confidential tip he and his family have long disputed,” reports The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch.
Beitsch sifted through the court documents and explained the evidence. It’s worth reading.
Read: ‘Trump’s claims about Abrego Garcia’s gang ties largely rely on 1 confidential tip’
➤ WHAT ABOUT THAT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROTECTION ORDER?:
Well, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia’s wife, issued a statement defending her husband.
She explained her side of things: “After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” she said, per Newsweek.
➤ INTERESTING LISTEN ON THE CASE:
The New York Times’s Ezra Klein described the significance of this case on his podcast. The episode is titled, “The Emergency Is Here.” 🎙️Listen here
Excerpt: “The president of the United States is disappearing people to a Salvadoran prison for terrorists … A prison built for disappearance. … The Trump administration holds the view that anyone they send to El Salvador is beyond the reach of American law — they have been disappeared not only from our country but from our system — and from any protection or process that system affords. In our prisons, prisoners can be reached by our lawyers, by our courts, by our mercy. In El Salvador, they cannot.”
A U.S.-born man was held at the request of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), despite the judge viewing his birth certificate, though he has since been released.
What happened?: “Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, who was born in the United States, was detained Wednesday in Florida by the state’s highway patrol and was charged with illegally entering the Sunshine State as an ‘unauthorized alien’ under a state law that has been temporarily blocked by a judge, the Florida Phoenix news outlet reported Thursday.”
Is he still in jail?: No, he was released Thursday evening, per the Florida Phoenix.
➤ TRUMP HAS BEEN DECLARING NATIONAL EMERGENCIES LEFT AND RIGHT:
Axios calculated that President Trump has declared more national emergencies than any other president in modern history. It’s meant to give presidents more power in moments of crisis, but Trump has used it to give himself more unilateral power to enact his agenda.
➤ MORE READS:
The Washington Post: Travel to the U.S. from almost everywhere is falling under Trump
The New York Times: Under Trump, National Security Guardrails Vanish: America’s adversaries have more room to operate, at least in the disinformation space, cybersecurity experts say.
The Wall Street Journal: Trump Demands Harvard’s Foreign Funding Records
The Hill: Trump and Powell set for showdown as tariffs rattle markets
Politico: Rubio’s firing of Marocco ignites a MAGA world meltdown
🚔️ IN FLORIDA
A gunman opened fire at Florida State University in Tallahassee on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead and several others injured.
The suspect: The alleged gunman is Phoenix Ikner, a 20-year-old political science student. What we know about the suspect, via WFLA
📹 A student described her experience to CNN— warning, it’s chilling and heartbreaking watch.
⌚️ ON CAPITOL HILL
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who finished in second place to President Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, has distinguished himself from MAGA World by declaring his skepticism of long-term tariffs, remaining a hawk on Russia and coming out against proposals to tax the rich,” reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.
What this could mean for 2028: “By calling out tariffs as ‘taxes on American consumers’ and sticking to his view that Russia poses a serious threat to U.S. interests, Cruz may be laying the groundwork to run against Trump’s heir apparent, Vice President Vance, in a 2028 Republican primary.”
But Vance would be a major obstacle: “Vance is Trump’s natural heir apparent and has fully embraced the MAGA agenda, including the use of high tariffs to bring manufacturing back to the United States and a view that the nation doesn’t have the defense industrial capacity to continue providing billions of dollars in military support to Ukraine.”
Read Bolton’s reporting: ‘Is Ted Cruz running again? Texas carves out unique lane in Trump’s GOP’
COMING UP
The House and Senate are out. President Trump is in Washington. Vice President Vance is in Italy. (All times EST)
Noon: Trump swears in the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
2:40 p.m.: The International Space Station holds a change of command ceremony. 💻Livestream
Monday: The annual White House Easter Egg Roll — with real eggs!
🐝 INTERNET BUZZ
🦓 Celebrate: Today is National Animal Crackers Day.
👋 AND FINALLY…
Because this is one of my favorite videos I’ve seen in a while, I will leave you with this perfect gem of an Easter bunny.
