WASHINGTON — Rep. Yassamin Ansari returned to Phoenix Tuesday after an unsuccessful attempt to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the longtime Maryland resident deported to El Salvador by mistake and without a hearing.

The White House accused the Arizona freshman lawmaker and three Democratic colleagues she traveled with of taking an “apology tour” on behalf of dangerous gang members.

Ansari and Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Maxine Dexter of Oregon met in the capital San Salvador with U.S. Ambassador Will Duncan.

Salvadoran authorities denied their request to meet with Abrego Garcia and the U.S. lawmakers returned without being able to determine where he was being held. The lawmakers did meet with his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura — an American citizen — and lawyers.

“If we don’t have due process, we have nothing,” Ansari said at a news conference at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport when she returned Tuesday.

On Monday, the White House asserted Ansari and her colleagues were “picking up their party’s mantle of prioritizing a deported illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member over the Americans they represent.”

Abrego Garcia has no confirmed affiliation with a gang and has never been charged with any crime related to gang activity. His wife denies he has any gang affiliation.

Federal authorities cite an allegation from a Prince George’s County, Maryland, police informant. Abrego Garcia has lived in the county just outside the nation’s capital since 2012.

Even if he were a gang member, Ansari and other Democrats say, the federal government is legally and ethically obliged to respect his rights, and it did not.

The longtime Maryland resident was flown to El Salvador on March 15 despite a 2019 order protecting him from deportation to his home country on grounds he would be in danger there.

Federal authorities ignored a judge’s order to turn the plane around well before it landed with him and other deportees.

Trump officials have also refused to comply with a judge’s order to seek his return — an order affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Justice Department has acknowledged Abrego Garcia was deported by mistake but federal officials say that because of his gang ties, he would be deported again immediately if returned.

“We are very concerned and we want him to know that his family and the country want him home,” Ansari said in a video she posted on Instagram before leaving El Salvador.

In Phoenix, Ansari voiced concern about the treatment of Abrego Garcia and more than 200 others deported in recent weeks. They are being held in a Salvadoran prison notorious for harsh conditions and where cells hold up to 70 people. The U.S. government is paying for their detention.

“Fighting for due process, freedoms and our constitutional rights is not just about one man, it’s about all of us,” Ansari said.

She cited an incident on Monday involving a 19-year-old from New Mexico named Jose Hermosillo. The man had no identification and was detained near Nogales and held for 10 days by federal immigration authorities. He was released after his family provided a birth certificate and Social Security card proving his American citizenship.

Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both Democrats, have also criticized the Trump administration for trampling Abrego Garcia’s rights.

“Throwing people out of the country without due process is un-American and it’s ripping families apart,” Kelly said in a post on X. “It’s one thing to deport criminals, but you have to actually make sure they’re criminals.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, met with Abrego Garcia last Thursday.

The White House painted Ansari and the other House Democrats as more concerned about dangerous immigrants than about Americans victimized by people in the country illegally.

Trump aides highlighted the cases of four men accused in Arizona federal court on charges that include money laundering, assault and drug trafficking. One who was previously deported is wanted in Mexico for murder.

After being denied a meeting with Abrego Garcia, Ansari and her House colleagues sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding daily proof of life for Abrego Garcia, that he gets access to a lawyer and that he is returned immediately to the United States.