Illinois Governor JB Pritzker retaliates against El Salvador over Abrego García case

The administration of Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a series of measures to boycott El Salvador Wednesday in protest of the arrest of Kilmar Abrego García, a U.S. citizen from Maryland who was mistakenly deported to the Central American country and is now being held in a maximum security prison built under the government of Nayib Bukele.

Illinois' reaction comes as tension grows between Democratic states and the White House, led by President Donald Trump, who defended his administration's actions in the Abrego García case.

Pritzker, who has been floated as a possible presidential candidate in 2028, ordered several state agencies to review their financial and contractual ties with Salvadoran companies.

"We are witnessing Donald Trump erode our fundamental Constitutional rights in real time, and we must fight to restore the balance of power," the Democratic governor said in an official statement. "The State of Illinois will stand up for the Rule of Law and do everything in our power to stop the Trump administration from ripping apart our most basic rights."

According to Pritzker, El Salvador committed what he described as "aiding the Trump administration’s unlawful and unconstitutional actions."

The controversy between Illinois and El Salvador is over the Abrego García case, a Maryland man who came to the U.S. illegally at age 16, raised a family in the country and was detained in the midst of a federal raid and subsequently deported to El Salvador, despite the fact that his immigration status was still under judicial review.

While the Trump administration acknowledges that it was a wrongful deportation, officials justified the decision by arguing that Abrego García is allegedly a member of the gang MS-13, something his family and defense categorically deny.

Despite claims from Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has refused to release him.

"Of course I’m not going to do it," the Salvadoran president said at a joint conference with Trump. "The question is preposterous.”

As part of the political offensive, the Illinois government asked its pension funds to review possible investments in companies based in El Salvador and asked the Department of Central Management Services to evaluate whether there are active state contracts with suppliers linked to the country. At the same time, Congress is analyzing other forms of pressure, such as a call to boycott investments and trips to El Salvador, in an attempt to bend the will of the White House and force the release of Abrego García.