Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) said he is traveling to El Salvador on Wednesday to check on the status of a deported legal resident.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia made headlines after being removed by the Trump administration in an “administrative error” and sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT maximum security prison to be detained.
“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,” Van Hollen said in a Tuesday statement.
“It should be a priority of the U.S. government to secure his safe release, which is why tomorrow I am traveling to El Salvador,” he added.
White House officials have alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which both he and his wife have denied. He had resided in the United States for more than 10 years after fleeing El Salvador due to threats of violence and persecution.
An immigration court granted him approval to stay amid concerns of turmoil in his native land.
“My hope is to visit Kilmar and check on his well-being and to hold constructive conversations with government officials around his release. We must urgently continue working to return Abrego Garcia safely home to Maryland,” Van Hollen said.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele told reporters Monday he would not help return the Maryland man.
“Of course I’m not going to do it,” he said during a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office. “The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said there was no chance of his release to U.S. custody.
“Deporting him back to El Salvador was always going to be the end result. There is never going to be a world in which this is an individual who is going to live a peaceful life in Maryland,” Leavitt said during Tuesday’s press briefing.
“Because he is a foreign terrorist and an MS-13 gang member. Not only have we confirmed that, President Bukele yesterday in the Oval Office confirmed that as well,” Leavitt continued. “So he went back to his home country, where he will face consequences for his gang affiliation and his engagement in human trafficking. I’m not sure what is so difficult about this for everyone in the media to understand.”
Her comments come in stark contrast to the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding a lower court’s order to have the Trump administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
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