White House rages at ‘appalling’ attempt to return wrongly deported man from El Salvador
The White House has hit out at an “appalling” attempt by a Democratic senator to return a father wrongly deported to El Salvador.
Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday to speak to the country’s leaders about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was removed from the US by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.
Washington acknowledged Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”.
The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.
Mr Garcia’s lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.
Speaking about Mr Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Democrats “still refuse to accept the will of the American people”.
She alleged Mr Garcia was an “illegal alien MS-13 terrorist” and claimed his wife petitioned for court protection against him after alleged incidents of domestic violence.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Pic: AP/Jose Luis Magana
After outlining the allegations against Mr Garcia, she went on: “All of that is not enough to stop the Democrat Party from their lies.
“The number one issue they are focused on right now is bringing back this illegal alien terrorist to America.
“It’s appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats are plotting his trip to El Salvador today, are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens.”
After making a statement, Ms Leavitt introduced Patty Morin, who described graphic details of her daughter’s murder by an immigrant from El Salvador.
Rachel Morin was raped and murdered by Victor Martinez-Hernandez along a popular hiking trail northeast of Baltimore.
Afterwards, Ms Leavitt left without taking any questions from reporters.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA/AP
Senator travels to El Salvador
Mr Van Hollen met with the El Salvador vice president during his trip to the Central American country.
But he did not meet with President Nayib Bukele, who publicly met with Donald Trump in the Oval Office this week, nor did he meet Mr Garcia himself.
US senator Chris Van Hollen has been in El Salvador.
Pic: Reuters/Jose Cabezas
In a post on X, he said he would continue to fight for Mr Garcia’s return.
During Mr Bukele’s trip to the White House earlier this week, he said he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States”.
Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, who it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.
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‘I’m talking about violent people’
Judge’s contempt warning
It comes hours after a US federal judge warned that he could hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.
The comments are an escalation in a row which began last month when US district judge James E Boasberg issued an order temporarily blocking the deportations.
However, lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air – one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras.
Mr Boasberg verbally ordered the planes to be turned around, but the directive was not included in his written order. The Trump administration then denied refusing to comply.
Charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, reported.
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However, that could create an uncomfortable situation for the department, which is headed by the attorney general – a position appointed by the president.
If the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.
The judge wrote: “The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it.”
He gave the government a 23 April deadline.
White House director of communications Steven Cheung said the administration would seek “immediate appellate relief” – a review of a decision within a lower court before the case has been resolved.
US Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been chosen as the new pope.
Senior cardinal Dominique Mamberti came out onto St Peter’s balcony to announce the new pope to cheering crowds as thousands of people gathered in the square below, saying the famous Latin words: “Habemus Papam”, meaning “we have a pope”.
The 69-year-old will take the name Leo XIV – and greeted thousands of faithful from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as the new head of the Catholic Church.
Speaking in Italian, the pontiff says Pope Francis was always “courageous and blessed Rome”.
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Moment new pope emerges on balcony
“The pope that blessed Rome gave his blessing to the whole world on that Easter morning,” he says.
“Together we must try to find out how to be a church that builds bridges, establishes dialogue and is open to receives everybody.
“Let us follow up that blessing. God loves us and God loves all of you.
“Sin will not prevail, we are all in the hands of God.”
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost poses after being elevated to the rank of cardinal at the Vatican, September 30, 2023 REUTERS/Yara Nardi
The pope went on to speak in Spanish, nodding to his time as a missionary, and said: “I would particularly like to say hello to my compatriots from Peru.
“It was a great pleasure for me to work in Peru.”
The new pontiff was chosen on the second day of the conclave after white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel at just after 5pm (UK time) on Thursday.
Some 133 cardinals gathered in Rome before being led into the Sistine Chapel on 7 May to start the conclave – the secretive process to decide the new pontiff.
They handed over their phones before entering the building, which had been swept for hidden cameras, recording equipment, and bugs.
The windows were also covered to keep the outside world out and to stop drones from spying.
Each cardinal swore an oath of secrecy. They did not emerge from the Vatican until the new pope was chosen.
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Conclave: Behind the scenes
To be elected, the new pontiff had to win a two-thirds majority (89 votes). Afterwards, he was asked whether he accepted the papacy and by which name he wished to be known.
When the pope was chosen, the ballots were burned in a stove with an additive to produce white smoke that billowed from a chimney to alert onlookers that the decision had been made.
Previously, the ballots were burned with an additive to produce black smoke, indicating that the pope had not yet been chosen.
The election comes after Pope Francis died on 21 April at the age of 88 from a stroke and heart failure.
More than 250,000 people gathered at the Vatican for his funeral on 27 April.
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The Vatican has announced the first ever American leader of the Catholic Church – Robert Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
The 69-year-old cardinal was born in Chicago and spent many years as a missionary in Peru.
Follow live updates: New pope elected
He was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2023 and appointed head of the dicastery for bishops, a powerful position responsible for selecting new bishops.
As cardinal, he said little on key issues of the church, but some of his positions are known.
Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost in September 2023. Pic: Reuters
He is reportedly very close to Francis’s vision regarding the environment, outreach to the poor and migrants. He said in 2024 “the bishop is not supposed to be a little prince sitting in his kingdom”.
He also supported Pope Francis’s stance on allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion. However, he only showed mild support for Francis allowing priests to bless same-sex couples.
Pope Leo has years of experience in leadership roles within the church.
He was twice elected to the top position of the Augustinian religious order and Francis clearly had an eye on his progress – moving him from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014, where he served as administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.
He acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2015 and remained in that role until 2023, when Francis brought him to Rome.
While there has long been a taboo against an American pope – given the geopolitical power the US already wields – Leo was being promoted as a “compromise candidate” ahead of the conclave. The amount of time he has spent in Peru also allows him to be seen as a more universal candidate rather than American.
The world learned a new pope had been chosen at around 6.08pm local time (5.08pm UK time) on Thursday as white smoke suddenly emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
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First US pope chosen
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New pope elected by conclave
The 133 cardinals sequestered in the chapel picked the new leader of the Catholic Church on the second day of the conclave.
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As the smoke appeared, cheers went up in St Peter’s Square, where thousands of people had gathered in the hope of witnessing history.
Just over an hour later, the Pope was introduced on the central balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as a crowd of an estimated 50,000 people looked on.
India’s airstrikes on Pakistani-controlled Kashmir after last month’s deadly militant attack on the Indian-administered side of the disputed region have raised fears of a dangerous escalation in the conflict.
It is not yet known what specific weapons were used in Wednesday’s early morning strikes which Delhi said targeted “terrorist camps”, though Islamabad said civilian infrastructure, including mosques, was hit.
However, India is reported to have deployed Rafale jets equipped with SCALP air-to-ground cruise missiles.
The nuclear-armed neighbours have been boosting their military capabilities since they clashed in a series of border skirmishes in 2019.
As of 2024, India has 36 Rafale jets, eight two-seat variants and 28 single-seat variants, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
The aircraft were acquired under a 2016 inter-governmental agreement between India and France, which included a weapons package. This package featured MICA and SCALP missiles.
Between 2020 and 2024, around a third of India’s arms imports came from France, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Pakistan claimed to have shot down five Indian aircraft, including three Rafale jets, on Wednesday following the Indian attack.
If this was the case, the Pakistani military would have used surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). According to IISS, Pakistan has more than 200 SAMs. Although, for context, India has well over 800 across their armed forces.
How do India and Pakistan rank?
India’s overall military capability significantly exceeds that of Pakistan.
It ranks fourth in the world compared to Pakistan’s 12th place, according to Global Firepower’s index, which considers a range of factors to assess military strength.
In terms of personnel, India has 1,237,000 active personnel in its army, 75,000 in the navy and 149,900 air force.
Pakistan has fewer than half that with 560,000 active personnel in the army, 30,000 in the navy and 70,000 in the air force.
Soldiers from the Indian army (left) and Pakistani army (right). Pic: Reuters
India’s armed forces twice the size of Pakistan’s
Sky’s security and defence analyst Professor Michael Clarke said: “The Indian forces are about double the size of Pakistan’s forces… if it came to a war, India will win.”
He added: “If it’s below the level of a war, if it’s some sort of military confrontation, then Pakistan might think it could get something out of it.”
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The two forces have similar nuclear capabilities. India has an estimated 180 nuclear warheads, while Pakistan has around 170, according to US thinktank the Federation of American Scientists.
However, experts agree that it is unlikely that either side will use their nuclear powers at this stage.
Professor Clarke said: “Nuclear weapons would only be used by any country if its existence is at stake. Nothing that happens in Kashmir threatens the existence of Pakistan or India.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
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