The senator said he would attempt to arrange a phone call between the deported Salvadoran and his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sula.
On April 18, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) explained his meeting with Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a Salvador man whom the Trump administration said was deported due to administrative errors.
The visit finally happened Thursday when Salvador officials carried Abrego Garcia to the hotel where Van Hollen was staying. He explained his efforts to promote meetings with the men and what they discussed when they met.
After his initial denial, he ran towards El Salvador’s Terror Confinement Centre (CECOT), the largest security prison where Abrego Garcia is in custody, the senator said. The soldiers stopped him and cited official orders and did not let him proceed.
Hours later, Van Hollen received the words that Salvador officials would take Abrego Garcia to his hotel. The lawmaker said the man was handcuffed by US immigration authorities in Maryland before being first taken to a Baltimore detention center and then to Texas.
Later, according to Van Hollen, Abrego Garcia was handcuffed and bound, boarded El Salvador along with other deportees, where he was placed in CECOT holding cells with about 25 other prisoners.
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“He is not afraid of the other prisoners on his direct phone, but he said he was traumatized by being in Secott, and he was afraid of many other prisoners in the cell block who called out to him and untook him in various ways. “He said he was very saddened to be in prison because he hadn’t committed a crime.”
The senator said he would attempt to arrange a phone call between Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sula.
Abrego Garcia illegally entered the United States, and was granted a “withholding tax for removal” by an immigration judge in 2019, deeming it facing a serious threat to his life and safety in El Salvador.
The Trump administration said the deportation of Abrego Garcia on March 15 was the result of “administrative errors.”
Citing a government secret informant, the Department of Homeland Security said he is currently a terrorist organisation designated as the United States and a member of MS-13 Thrannational Gang, which he and his lawyers have denied.
The administration prioritizes deporting illegal immigrants who belong to such criminal organizations.
The judge who will host his current case said the Trump administration has not presented evidence of Abrego Garcia’s alleged gang affiliation and relies on informant testimony.
His lawyer challenged the administration in court. The Supreme Court ruled that the federal government must “promote” a return to the United States from April 10th to 0th.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said this week that Abrego Garcia was “not returning to our country.”
“President (Salvadran) Bukere said he wouldn’t send him back. That’s the end of the story,” Bondy said.
A federal judge previously ordered the administration to promote Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, as he had sued by government lawyers.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt criticized Van Hollen for attempting to visit “an illegal alien MS-13 terrorists deported.”
Lewitt also accused her of not expressing the same sympathy for Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was killed by illegal Salvador immigrants in 2023. Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, 24, was found guilty on April 14 of a first-time pre-murder, third-degree rape and third-degree degree sex off-lap.
The White House invited Patty Morin to a press conference on Wednesday, but refused to ask questions about the Abrego Garcia incident.
“Why does he have more rights than me, is he a daughter or my grandson?” Morin said at the briefing. “I don’t understand this.”
Van Hollen told reporters Friday that he understands the threat of MS-13 and that he worked across the aisles with other lawmakers while representing Maryland’s 8th District, establishing the Anti-Ginn Task Force in the Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia areas.
He said the Abrego Garcia case was about the legitimate process of “everyone living in America.”
Van Hollen also responded to accusations that he had not had the same sympathy as Morin.
“My heart is directed towards Rachel Morin’s family,” Van Hollen said. “My heart breaks for what happened to them. It should not happen to American families. I am extremely pleased that the court will convict her murderer and punish her murderer.”
The senator said he was “very happy” with the murder suspect he was convicted this week.
He said the court, like Morin’s murderer, intends not only to punish the guilty, but also to prevent innocent people from being found guilty and “arbitrarily detained.”
Sam Dorman and Travis Gilmore contributed to this report.
