Democratic senator says he'll go to El Salvador ‘to show solidarity’ if deported man is not returned
A Democratic senator said he’ll go to El Salvador "to show solidarity" if President Donald Trump doesn’t secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, who was deported in what Trump officials have acknowledged was an "administrative error."
"As I said in that letter, if I don’t hear from him and Abrego Garcia is not quickly returned, I do intend to go to El Salvador this week to show solidarity with his family," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said on CNN on Tuesday.
"As you indicated, the Trump Administration itself has admitted that he was abducted and sent to this prison in error, and he should get his due process," Van Hollen said.
Garcia, who lived in Maryland, was in the country illegally and the Trump administration has said he has connections with the MS-13 gang.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Monday during Trump’s press conference with Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, that it was "up to El Salvador" if the country wanted to return him. Bondi also said that two courts, one immigration and one appellate immigration, found that Garcia was in the country illegally.
Garcia was granted temporary protection status in the U.S. by a court in 2019 from being removed to El Salvador, after it determined he would face criminal prosecution from gangs if he were removed to his home country.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor, said during the Monday press conference that once Trump made MS-13 a foreign terrorist organization, Garcia "was no longer eligible, under federal law … for any form of immigration relief in the United States … and had to be returned because of the foreign terrorist designation."
"I hope to meet with officials of the government of El Salvador," Van Hollen said of his potential solidarity trip.
"I don‘t know if the president is going to be in country at that time," Van Hollen added. "I also hope to visit this notorious prison to see Abrego Garcia, to let him know that his family and friends are very worried about him, as am I."
CBS News reported that Garcia is being held in El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center.
WE DON’T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI
"I think that the situation for both the Trump Administration and the president of El Salvador is unsustainable because the Supreme Court, as you reported, by 9-0 has said that Trump Administration has to facilitate his return," Van Hollen said. "And you have the president of El Salvador saying, ‘Well, I don‘t have the power to release him.’ Both things are untrue. The president could, of course, facilitate his return."
During his CNN interview, Van Hollen also said that the anti-Israel protesters at Harvard are exercising their First Amendment rights.
"You know, Donald Trump believes in First Amendment rights for himself, but apparently for nobody else," Van Hollen said. "Others they will punish when there’s an exercise of First Amendment rights."
On Monday, the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced that it is freezing $2.2 billion in funding because the school has failed to comply with the stipulations set out by the administration to combat antisemitism.
"So, look, you can agree or disagree with the students, but what the whole — what the purpose of the First Amendment is, is that you don’t have the government dictating speech as the Trump Administration is trying to do," Van Hollen said. "So, I‘m glad Harvard is standing up here."