By Katherine Tinsley
12:59am PDT, Apr 16, 2025
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia was stripped of his due process privileges and deported to El Salvador despite not being convicted of a crime. Donald Trump's administration branded the mistake "an administrative error," but they've made no progress toward bringing Garcia home.
On Monday, April 14,
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele visited the White House and joked about Garcia catching a ride with him to the U.S."You don't even have to give Garcia the middle seat," Jon Stewart said on
The Daily Show after catching wind of the comment.
"I'm sure Garcia would just grab the wing and
Tom Cruise it over here if he had to. But sadly, Bukele arrived at the White House with just the Miami club promoter clothes on his back and a pocket full of excuses," the funnyman continued, referencing
Cruise's notorious Mission: Impossible stunts.
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Jon Stewart found Kilmar Abrego Garcia's imprisonment — and Donald Trump's and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's reactions to it — to be disheartening.
"Can I honestly tell you? Like, they're f****** enjoying this, like the two of them," Stewart said in a somber tone.
"Our president, their president, [they're like], 'I can't do it. I guess we'll just have to let him rot in f****** prison, even though he didn't deserve to be there,'" he continued.
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During Nayib Bukele's meeting with Donald Trump on Sunday, April 14, the Salvadoran president alluded to keeping Kilmar Abrego Garcia imprisoned despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that he needed to be returned to Maryland.
"I know you guys don't care about this guy. I'm talking about [Trump and Bukele], but somebody else cares about this person, and you just randomly, with no evidence that you'll show anybody, call him a terrorist," Jon Stewart said.
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CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Donald Trump about Kilmar Abrego Garcia during an April 14 press conference.
"You said that if the Supreme Court said someone needed to be returned, that you would abide by that," Collins noted.
"Why don't you just say, 'Isn't it wonderful that we're keeping criminals out of our country.' Why can't you just say that? Why do you go over and over? That's why nobody watches you anymore," the convicted felon replied, ignoring the fact that Garcia has not been found guilty of any crime.
Trump later indicated he's
considering ways to also send U.S. citizens who've committed crimes to prisons in
El Salvador.
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Jon Stewart was appalled by Donald Trump's comments about sending U.S. citizens to El Salvador.
"He's gonna do that to U.S. citizens," Stewart said. "I think the hosts of The View are about to get administratively error'd. I gotta tell you, I did not think he would get this authoritarian this fast. I really didn't. I'm sorry."
