WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration last month, is no longer being housed at the mega-prison known as CECOT.

He was moved last week to another detention center in El Salvador.

For the first time since his deportation, his family and the world also saw photos of Mr. Abrego Garcia and heard a firsthand report of his condition after Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen met with him yesterday in El Salvador.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): He was moved to another detention center in Santa Ana, where the conditions are better, but he said, despite the better conditions, he still has no access to any news from the outside world and no ability to communicate with anybody in the outside world.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Meanwhile, the fierce legal battle over his status continues.

The Trump administration alleges, despite wrongfully deporting him, that he's affiliated with the MS-13 gang and there's nothing they can do to bring him back.

An appeals court yesterday called that shocking and wrote -- quote -- "The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order."

So, for the latest on this case, we turn to one of Abrego Garcia's lawyers.

Rina Gandhi is an attorney with the immigration law firm Murray Osorio.

Rina, thank you very much for being here.

Yesterday, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland saw your client.

Have you been able to do the same?

Have you spoken with him?

What can you tell us about his current condition?

RINA GANDHI, Attorney For Kilmar Abrego Garcia: Unfortunately not.

We have not been able to speak with him, although we are very grateful that Senator Van Hollen was able to speak with him, let him know probably for the first time that people are fighting for him, that his community is fighting for him, and to confirm that he is in fact alive and there.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What was the reaction of his wife and family to seeing pictures and getting confirmation that he was at least still alive?

RINA GANDHI: I think, as seen in Jennifer's statement, the family was very ecstatic to see him, but it's bittersweet.

He's not home yet, so our job is not done.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As you well know, as the legal and public pressure about this case has been ramping up, the Trump administration has put out a series of statements and documents to back up their allegations that your client was in the U.S. illegally, that he was violent towards his wife, and that he is a member of MS-13.

And they argue that sending him to El Salvador makes the United States safer.

Have you seen the government's evidence?

And what can you say about that evidence?

RINA GANDHI: We have certainly seen the evidence they have posted on social media.

However, this has not been brought to a court of law.

And that's the crucial issue here in this case.

This is about due process.

There is a regular procedure to go through where they're welcome to bring forward whatever claims they feel they can and let a judge decide.

Let Mr. Abrego Garcia have a say, tell his side, explain the real situation, as the courts have in the past already reviewed his history.

He had a huge two-day hearing where it was extensively reviewed.

And the Trump administration back in 2019 chose not to appeal, chose to release him.

So to change their tune now, it's a little disingenuous.

And I think we would ask them to follow what the Supreme Court is asking, is ordering, rather, and to bring him home.

And let's do this in a real court.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Can you address those allegations that the president again made from the White House today that the president is certain that he is a member of MS-13?

Again, we have all seen the evidence they have put forward, but what is your response to that allegation?

RINA GANDHI: It's interesting that he would know that, but that was not put forward by his government in the court in 2019.

And it's interesting that it has not been put forward in a court of law here under the right procedures.

And instead they chose to simply remove him unlawfully.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I hear what you're saying that he was not given due process before he was deported and sent to El Salvador.

But given that he is now in El Salvador, in this new prison, and the president of that country has said, we're not going to send him back, and the president of this country says he is powerless to bring him back, what does due process look like for your client now?

RINA GANDHI: It looks like an ask.

It looks like an ask.

I think, as Senator Van Hollen confirmed earlier today, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has not been given instructions to make any kind of an ask, to make those liaison requests.

We heard in the White House when President Bukele was here, he stated, what am I going to do, smuggle him in?

That's not the ask.

The ask is, allow the United States to receive him and let's bring him home on one of our many ICE airplanes, and let's have a real court case.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: As I mentioned, several of the courts have now pressed the administration for further action and further evidence.

One court said its defiance of the order to facilitate his return called that shocking and wrote also -- quote -- "Facilitate is an active verb" and it does not -- quote -- "allow the government to do essentially nothing."

The administration has said that even if he were brought back to the United States, that the U.S. would then deport him again immediately.

Would you still be willing to go through that process?

Would that be welcome?

RINA GANDHI: Yes, because that is the correct process.

Mr. Abrego Garcia has been granted protection from El Salvador.

We have returned him to that very country that he won his case based on.

So, if they want to take that away from him, then they have to go through the correct procedures.

And if a judge decides, then that's what the judge decides.

But no judge has been able to make that decision.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Given that your client has been labeled a dangerous, violent terrorist by the president of the United States, do you worry that, if he were to come back to the United States, that his safety would be in jeopardy?

RINA GANDHI: Based on the statements made by the White House in various forms, yes, but I also believe in our community.

The community has really come together.

We have had contact from different levels of government within Maryland.

And I believe that he wins his case in a court here and he is going to be able to live a relatively normal life, despite the trauma that he's endured.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, that is Rina Gandhi, lawyer for Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Thank you so much for your time.

RINA GANDHI: Thank you.