Sen. Van Hollen meets with wrongly deported Abrego Garcia

U S Sen Chris Van Hollen met Thursday evening with Kilmar Abrego Garcia who is being held in an El Salvador prison after wrongly being deported from Maryland Van Hollen D-Md validated the meeting in a post on X with a picture of the two talking I stated my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar the senator s post read Tonight I had that chance I have called his wife Jennifer to pass along his message of love I look forward to providing a full update upon my return Van Hollen announced he was denied entry into an El Salvador prison earlier Thursday while he was trying to check on the well-being of Abrego Garcia who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation At a news conference in San Salvador after his failed attempt to meet with Abrego Garcia the senator mentioned his car was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about miles kilometers from the Terrorism Confinement Center CECOT where Abrego Garcia is being held as other cars were allowed to continue on They stopped us because they are under orders not to allow us to proceed Van Hollen explained U S President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele declared this week that they have no basis to send Abrego Garcia back even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the U S Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return Trump functionaries have mentioned that Abrego Garcia a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland has ties to the MS- gang but his attorneys say the establishment has provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity Van Hollen s trip has become a partisan flashpoint in the U S as Democrats have seized on Abrego Garcia s deportation as what they say is a cruel consequence of Trump s disregard for the courts Republicans have criticized Democrats for defending him and argued that his deportation is part of a larger effort to reduce crime Van Hollen mentioned Wednesday he met with Salvadoran Vice President F lix Ulloa who also noted his cabinet could not return Abrego Garcia So in the modern day I tried again to make contact with Mr Abrego Garcia by driving to the CECOT prison Van Hollen noted Thursday While Van Hollen was denied entry several House Republicans have visited the notorious gang prison in patronage of the Trump administration s efforts Rep Riley Moore a West Virginia Republican posted Tuesday evening that he d visited the prison where Abrego Garcia is being held He did not mention Abrego Garcia but announced the facility houses the country s the bulk brutal criminals I leave now even more determined to help President Trump s efforts to secure our homeland Moore posted on social media Missouri Republican Rep Jason Smith chair of the House Avenues and Means Committee also visited the prison He posted on X that thanks to President Trump the facility now includes illegal immigrants who broke into our country and committed violent acts against Americans Immigration hours ago Maryland Sen Van Hollen meets with El Salvador's VP in push for Abrego Garcia's release Trump administration Apr Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never' live in the US again White House says Trump administration Apr Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia the man ICE mistakenly deported to an El Salvador prison The fight over Abrego Garcia has also played out in contentious court filings with repeated refusals from the leadership to tell a judge what it plans to do if anything to repatriate him Since March El Salvador has accepted from the U S more than Venezuelan immigrants whom Trump administration leaders have accused of gang activity and violent crimes and placed them inside the country s maximum-security gang prison just outside San Salvador That prison is part of Bukele s broader effort to crack down on the country s powerful street gangs which has put people behind bars and made Bukele extremely popular at home Human rights groups have accused Bukele s executive of subjecting those jailed to systematic use of torture and other mistreatment Functionaries there deny wrongdoing Get the D C area s top news and weather delivered to your inbox every morning Sign up for First The majority our free newsletter