(Washington, D.C.)—On International Workers’ Day, U.S. labor leaders called on the Salvadoran government to immediately release illegally deported union member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

In a new letter sent to Ambassador Milena Mayorga of El Salvador, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO; Jimmy Williams Jr., general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT); Michael Coleman, general president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART); and Gwen Mills, president of UNITE HERE, write: “Brother Abrego Garcia is a first-year apprentice of Local 100 of [SMART] and has built a family and a life in Maryland, where he was also helping to build our nation’s infrastructure. Despite these critical contributions, he was deported by the U.S. government without due process or opportunity for appeal. This miscarriage of justice cannot stand.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been imprisoned in El Salvador for more than a month, after having been removed from the United States in violation of U.S. law and the legal status granted him in 2019 after gang threats and extortion forced him to flee El Salvador. As the signatories write, “This egregious violation of our brother’s rights has been acknowledged by federal courts, and the U.S. government has admitted that his removal was an ‘administrative error.’ However, he remains in custody in El Salvador, and the U.S. government has failed to take action to bring him home, despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return.”

In the letter, the labor leaders “urge the Salvadoran government to clarify its commitment to the fundamental principles of rule of law and due process by returning our trade union brother Abrego Garcia to his family in the United States and ensuring access to justice for all other workers who have been detained or deported without appropriate legal procedures.” They also requested a meeting with the Salvadoran ambassador to discuss Abrego Garcia’s case.

“As a labor movement, we categorically reject the vicious attacks on immigrant workers like Kilmar Abrego Garcia being carried out by the Trump administration. These dangerous anti-worker, anti-union tactics have been weaponized as a tool to sow fear and division and to distract from the corporate takeover of our democratic and economic systems. They must not be legitimized,” they emphasize.

The letter can be viewed in full here.