Sen. Van Hollen Says He Met With Abrego Garcia in El Salvador

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he had met Thursday in El Salvador with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who was deported by the Trump administration due to an administrative error.

Van Hollen, who has been advocating for Abrego Garcia to be brought back to the United States, arrived in El Salvador on April 16 and met with both Abrego Garcia and Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa. Abrego Garcia has been incarcerated in the country’s largest maximum security prison.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador has become a political flashpoint in ongoing debates about the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Democrats say Abrego Garcia’s deportation, despite his illegal status, violated the law as well as his due process rights.

Abrego Garcia was living with his wife and child, both U.S. citizens, when he was arrested. The administration has alleged that Garcia has ties to MS-13, a criminal gang designated as an international terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

He was protected from deportation back to El Salvador under a 2019 court order that ruled that doing so would pose a severe threat to his life and safety in his home country.

In an earlier court filing in a case that challenged Abrego Garcia’s removal from the United States, the Trump administration indicated that the deportation was a mistake.

Related Stories

This is a breaking story and will be updated.