Angry voters pelted Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley Tuesday with complaints and questions about the Trump administration’s apparent defiance of an order from the Supreme Court.
“If I get a court order to pay $1,200, can I just say no? Because he [Trump] just got an order from the Supreme Court and he just said NO!” said a very perturbed gentleman in the crowd of about 100 at a packed town hall meeting in Fort Madison, Iowa.
He was referring to the Supreme Court order that the Trump administration “facilitate” the return to the U.S. of Maryland dad Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a notorious El Salvador prison in error.
Now the Trump administration claims it can’t get him back, and apparently hasn’t even tried, despite the order, and even though it’s paying El Salvador $6 million to imprison Abrego Garcia and others shipped out of the U.S.
“Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?” another man shouted to applause from the crowd at the Grassley town hall.
“The president doesn’t care,” still another said. “He’s got an order from the Supreme Court and he’s just said: ‘No, screw it!’”
“Why won’t you do your job, Senator?” one voter shouted.
“We would like to know what you, as the people, the Congress, who are supposed to rein in this dictator, what are you going to do about it?” one man asked Grassley. “These people have been sentenced to life in prison in a foreign country with no due process.”
Grassley, 91, said he didn’t plan to take any action to free Abrego Garcia, explaining that it’s “not a power of Congress.” He also argued that El Salvador is an “independent country,” even though it’s keeping a prisoner paid for and delivered by the Trump administration.
Participants also complained, loudly, about Trump’s immigration policies in general, along with his tariffs, his massive cuts to the federal government, and the future of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Officials of the Trump administration have been ordered to testify about what, if any, action they have taken to comply with a lower court ruling that was upheld by the Supreme Court.
“There will be no tolerance for gamesmanship or grandstanding,” Maryland District Judge Paula Xinis told government lawyers on Tuesday. “Cancel vacations, cancel other appointments.”
Xinis said she would decide if the government acted in good faith or was in contempt of court.
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