The wife of an immigrant man wrongly deported to El Salvador said finally seeing proof that he is alive has been “overwhelming.”
Jennifer Vasquez Sura is the wife of Maryland immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported by immigration officials in March and sent to an El Salvador prison, where he currently remains.
On Thursday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) was finally able to meet with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador and posted a photo of the two of them. On Friday, Vasquez Sura told “Good Morning America” about the ongoing crisis.
“We saw him alive. It was very overwhelming,” Vasquez Sura said of seeing the image Thursday night.
“The most important thing for me, my children, his mom, his brother, his sibling, was to see him alive, and we saw him alive,” she added.
Vasquez Sura has been a vocal advocate for Abrego Garcia’s release, even as President Donald Trump’s administration has defied a Supreme Court order demanding Abrego Garcia be sent back to the U.S. The Trump administration previously admitted that the man was incorrectly sent to the country due to an “administrative error.”
“I won’t stop fighting until he returns home, until I know that he’s safe,” Vasquez Sura said, adding that this experience has been an “emotional roller coaster.”
Van Hollen, meanwhile, is set to return back to the U.S. on Friday with more updates after his meeting with Abrego Garcia. Following Van Hollen’s meeting with Abrego Garcia, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked the immigrant and downplayed his situation.
“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 Thursday night.
The Salvadoran president added that Abrego Garcia will remain in El Salvador.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele posted.