GOP senator says Trump admin deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a 'screw up'

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Sunday during an interview that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a "screw-up" by President Donald Trump's administration. 

Kennedy took issue with his Senate colleague, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD., who has argued Garcia hasn't experienced due process. Kennedy said that Kilmar had been in front of seventeen judges before turning to the Trump administration.

"This was a screw-up in my opinion. The administration won’t admit it, but this was a screw-up. Mr. Garcia was not supposed to be sent to El Salvador, he was sent to El Salvador. The Democrats [are] saying, ‘look, we told you Trump is a threat to democracy, this is going to happen every other Thursday afternoon.’ I don't see any pattern here," he said.

Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant living in Maryland, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) last month, and officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error, although now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he's a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which Garcia's attorneys deny.

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Pressed by NBC's Kristen Welker about whether he's worried about it happening again, Kennedy said, "none of us want mistakes."

"Mistakes bad, doing it right, good. But it was a screw-up, and I understand why the administration has bowed up and won't admit it's a mistake, because if they do, they'll have their throats torn out," he said. 

Kennedy reiterated that he didn't see a pattern of this type of mistake. 

Abrego Garcia met with Van Hollen during his visit to El Salvador.

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"I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar," Van Hollen said in a post on X. "Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return."

Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, joined ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday and was asked by host Michael Strahan about a protection order she filed against her husband in 2021. 

In the filing, written in Sura's own handwriting, she alleged Kilmar Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, saying, "At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me."

When pressed on the filing by Strahan, Sura responded, "My husband is alive, that’s all I can say."

"Okay," Strahan, saying he now knows "not to push you on that, apparently."

She ended the interview by declaring that she won't stop fighting until Abrego Garcia returns home safely. 

Fox News' Alexander Hall and Alexa Moutevelis contributed to this report.