Senator Chris Van Hollen had previously requested a meeting with President Salvador Naive Buquere during his leader’s visit to Washington.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said Tuesday he will travel to El Salvador on April 16 to visit Kilmer Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who is being detained in his home country after being mistakenly deported by US federal authorities.
In a statement, Van Hollen said he hopes to visit Abrego Garcia and “check his happiness” but also seeks “constructive conversations with government officials” about his release.
Van Hollen said the US federal court ordered to promote a safe return to the United States.
In an emailed statement to the Epoch Times, White House Communications Director Stephen Chen said Van Hollen had expressed “more concern and sympathy” for suspected MS-13 gangs than victims of “terrifying immigration crimes.”
Other Democrats, such as Robert Garcia (D-Calif) and Maxwell Frost (D-fla.), have sought approval for Abrego Garcia to send an official delegation to the El Salvador terrorist confinement center, currently being held by Salvadran authorities.
“I think this illegal alien is the very place he belongs to, in El Salvador,” said DHS Deputy Commissioner Tricia McLaughlin. “He was illegal in our country, he was from El Salvador, born in El Salvador and the media forgot to mention it. He is a member of the MS-13 gang.”
Abrego Garcia illegally entered the United States in 2011. He was arrested last month and deported to El Salvador for allegedly being a member of the MS-13 gang, a US-designated terrorist organization.
Mazzara also said Abrego Garcia is no longer subject to withholding for removal, as MS-13 is considered a foreign terrorist organization, and even if he can return to the US, DHS will expel him again to El Salvador or other countries.
“I hope I’m not proposing to smuggle terrorists into the United States,” Bukel told reporters. “How can I get him back to the US? … Of course I’m not going to do that.”
Sam Dorman contributed to this report.