Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson believes “American” Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador is putting the country’s legal system in peril.

The 2026 Michigan gubernatorial candidate weighed in on the controversy surrounding Garcia’s deportation on Wednesday without mentioning the Salvadorian’s alleged ties to the notoriously ruthless MS-13 gang.

“As I write this, Abrego Garcia remains in an El Salvador prison instead of at home with his family in Maryland. Despite a 2019 Court ruling barring him from deportation and an unanimous SCOTUS ruling upholding the lower court,” Swanson wrote in a “Statement on Detaining Americans Overseas” posted to X. “This is a huge flag for all of us.

“Due process is a core value of America for a reason,” he wrote. “Without it, the American justice system is in danger.”

My statement on detaining Americans overseas: pic.twitter.com/nufQMKnemi

— Chris Swanson (@swanson4mi) April 16, 2025

In the graphic supporting Swanson’s campaign, a few key words were edited out from the original statement released to the media: “If you’re in this country illegally to hurt people, I will use every tool at my disposal as sheriff and hopefully soon as your Governor to protect you and your family.”

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The comments follow a U.S. Supreme Court order last week tasking the Trump administration with working to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. The 29-year-old fled El Salvador as a teenager over alleged threats of gang violence, and an immigration judge in 2019 blocked him from deportation, reversing the decision of another immigration judge, The Hill reports.

Citing multiple sources connecting Garcia with MS-13, the Trump administration on March 12 arrested and swiftly deported Garcia to a prison in El Salvador, sparking protests from his family and immigration activists.

A legal challenge resulted in U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordering federal officials to retrieve Garcia, and the SCOTUS upheld that ruling last week when justices ruled unanimously the administration must work to “facilitate” his return, according to The Associated Press.

Federal officials insist any decision to return Garcia rests with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who said during a visit to the White House on Monday that’s not going to happen.

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“Of course, I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said. “The question is preposterous.”

Bukele also made it clear Garcia won’t be released in El Salvador, either, NBC News reports.

“We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists,” he said.

Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged the Trump administration failed to take “one extra step of paperwork” before deporting Garcia, but said at a press conference Wednesday he’s “not coming back to our country.”

“President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story,” she told reporters, according to The Hill. “If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation ever where he was going to stay in this country. None, none.”

Even if Bukele returned Garcia, his links to MS-13 and that gang’s status as a foreign terrorist organization means he would simply be deported again, she said.

“He is an illegal alien who has been living illegally in our country from El Salvador. ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] testified, an immigration judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. An appellate judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. Hard stop,” Bondi said Wednesday. “He should not be in our country.”

“He was deported. They needed one additional step in paperwork, but now, MS-13 is characterized as they should be as an FTO, as a foreign terrorist organization,” she continued. “He would have come back, had one extra step of paperwork and gone back again.”

While Maryland Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen heads to El Salvador today to check on Garcia’s status, Xinis is ordering senior Trump administration officials to testify about their efforts to comply with the SCOTUS ruling.

Meanwhile, other Democrats including Swanson are leveraging the situation to elevate their political profiles, with Swanson walking a tight rope between his career in law enforcement and the Democratic Party’s soft stance on illegal immigration.

“Make no mistake, anyone who victimizes the innocent shall be dealt with. As Sheriff, I helped facilitate the deportation of two immigrants back to Honduras within 72 hours of their arrest in a human trafficking GHOST operation,” Swanson wrote, referencing by acronym the Genesee Human Oppression Strike Team. “I will use every tool at my disposal as sheriff and hopefully soon as your Governor to protect you and your family.

“What’s happening to Mr. Garcia is not keeping us safe,” he alleged. “We can’t sacrifice our constitutional rights when it conflicts with public safety. They have to work together,” he said.

“I began my career in law enforcement by raising my right hand and swearing to uphold the Constitution of the United States and any time that oath is threatened I refuse to remain silent,” Swanson said.

The self-professed “very progressive” candidate garnered just 11% support among Democrats in a MIRS poll of 688 general election voters last month, well behind frontrunner Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson with 46%, and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist at 13%.