Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen revealed that Kilmar Ábrego García had been moved from El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison – where he was sharing a cell with 25 other inmates – to a detention center with better conditions.
Van Hollen met with Ábrego García, whom the Trump administration admits it mistakenly deported, and said that he had been left “traumatized” after facing threats in the Cecot facility.
Van Hollen also accused El Salvador’s government of planting two margarita glasses between him and Ábrego García for the meeting to make it appear as if they were enjoying a leisurely cocktail.
Wife of Ábrego García speaks as Trump defiant over US return
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Ábrego García’s wife, expressed relief to learn her husband is alive after Van Hollen’s trip. Trump said on social media the senator “looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador”.
US ready to abandon Ukraine peace deal if no progress
Trump said the US would “pass” on brokering a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia unless there were signs a settlement could be reached “very shortly”, while Kyiv said it had signed a memorandum with the US over a controversial minerals deal.
Trump ousts IRS chief days after appointment
Donald Trump is replacing the acting commissioner of the US Internal Revenue Service after the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, reportedly complained to the president that the agency head had been appointed without his knowledge and under the instruction of the Doge leader, Elon Musk.
White House replaces Covid website with ‘lab leak’ theory
The Trump administration has replaced Covid.gov – a website that once provided Americans with access to information about free tests, vaccines, treatment and secondary conditions such as long Covid – with a treatise on the “lab leak” theory.
DoJ division to shift focus away from civil rights, new messages show
The justice department’s civil rights division is shifting its focus away from its longstanding work protecting the rights of marginalized groups and will instead pivot towards Trump’s priorities, including hunting for non-citizen voters and protecting white people from discrimination, according to new internal mission statements seen by the Guardian.
Judge blocks Doge effort to shutter top consumer agency
A federal court has blocked the sweeping termination of staff at the top US consumer protection agency, a day after the Trump administration moved to axe about 1,500 of the agency’s 1,700 workforce, while officials investigate whether the action violated existing judicial orders.
What else happened today:
The American Civil Liberties Union asked the US supreme court to block the deportation of a new group of Venezuelan men detained in Texas.
A US-born American citizen who was detained in Florida has been released.
Republicans in nearly half of state legislatures have proposed bills to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote.
The Trump administration has spared the jobs of federal employees who provide services for Elon Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Starlink, raising a new round of conflict of interest questions around Doge.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 17 April 2025.
