Maryland Senator Arrives in El Salvador to Check on Man Deported From His State
Senator Chris Van Hollen said he would press for the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration and imprisoned.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to press for the release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant and Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration and remains imprisoned in his native country.
Mr. Abrego Garcia was removed from the United States last month in what immigration officials have since acknowledged was an error. Although the Supreme Court has instructed the government to facilitate his return, both U.S. and Salvadoran authorities have so far refused to comply.
Mr. Van Hollen had said he hoped to visit Mr. Abrego Garcia at the maximum security prison where he is being held, known as CECOT, about an hour outside the country’s capital. The senator also said he hoped to talk to Salvadoran officials about securing Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release.
“Following his abduction and unlawful deportation, U.S. federal courts have ordered the safe return of my constituent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States,” Mr. Van Hollen said in a statement before his departure. “It should be a priority of the U.S. government to secure his safe release.”
The trip comes shortly after President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador traveled to Washington this week for a meeting with Mr. Trump. The leaders appeared side-by-side in the Oval Office, with Mr. Bukele saying he had no intention of releasing Mr. Abrego Garcia and Mr. Trump saying he was powerless to seek his return.
Mr. Van Hollen, who said he requested a meeting with Mr. Bukele during the visit but received no response, said he was disturbed by those remarks and decided to travel to El Salvador himself.
“The goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration and the government of El Salvador know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home,” he said in a video posted to social media before boarding his flight.
On Wednesday, the Trump administration stuck to its position, continuing to defy the Supreme Court’s order. Asked about the case, Attorney General Pam Bondi declared that Mr. Abrego Garcia would not be repatriated unless the president of El Salvador decided to return him. Even if that happened, she said, the U.S. would immediately deport him again.
“President Bukele said he was not sending him back,” Ms. Bondi said. “That’s the end of the story.” She added Mr. Abrego Garcia is “from El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador and that’s where the president plans on keeping him.”
With Congress in a two-week recess and the fate of Mr. Abrego Garcia becoming increasingly politicized, more members of Congress were making the trip to El Salvador to weigh in on his case. At least two House Republicans, Representatives Riley Moore of West Virginia and Jason Smith of Missouri, toured the prison where Mr. Abrego Garcia was being held, although it was unclear whether they met with or saw him during their visit.
Both lawmakers posted photos on social media from inside the facility and argued in favor of its continued use as a destination for imprisoning deportees, as well as criminals from the United States.
“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Mr. Moore wrote, alongside photos of him posing with thumbs up in front of a jail cell where several inmates were held in multitiered metal bunks.
Mr. Smith praised Mr. Trump’s use of the facility in a post and wrote that it was “unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country.”
Representatives Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California, both Democrats, also planned to make a visit to El Salvador, according to two people familiar with their plans who discussed them on the condition of anonymity because they were not yet final.
The two wrote on Tuesday to Representative James Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Oversight Committee, requesting an official congressional delegation be sent to the nation to conduct a “welfare check” on Mr. Abrego Garcia.
Mr. Frost and Mr. Garcia also said more oversight was needed given Mr. Trump’s remarks this week that he wanted to send “homegrown criminals” including American citizens to the prison where he is being held, which is known for human rights violations.
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