BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) is traveling to El Salvador on Wednesday to advocate for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration in an admitted “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia, who has been detained in El Salvador’s notorious CECOT maximum security prison, was ordered by U.S. federal courts to be returned to the United States.
Van Hollen expressed his hope to visit Abrego Garcia, assess his well-being, and engage in discussions with Salvadoran government officials regarding his release.
“My hope is to visit Kilmar and check on his well-being and to hold constructive conversations with government officials around his release,” Van Hollen stated. “We must urgently continue working to return Abrego Garcia safely home to Maryland.”
The case of Abrego Garcia has drawn significant attention, particularly after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, during a meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, refused to return Abrego Garcia, calling him a terrorist and an MS-13 gang member. Bukele stated, “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.”
The White House has maintained that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was correct and that he is a member of MS-13, an allegation both Abrego Garcia and his wife deny. Abrego Garcia had lived in the United States for over a decade after fleeing El Salvador due to threats of violence and persecution. He was granted permission to stay by an immigration court due to concerns about the instability in his home country.
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, according to NewsNation.
“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.”
More in the video below.
This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.
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