Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Friday said Kilmar Abrego Garcia was completely in the dark about his family’s battle to secure his release and the intense political debate over his future when the Maryland Democrat met with the mistakenly deported man in El Salvador this week.
“When I told him that his wife and family said their love and were fighting for Kilmar to return home every day, he said that he was worried about all of you, that was his response,” Van Hollen told reporters at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
“How are you dealing with this horrible ordeal and nightmare for the family,” Van Hollen said, adding that a tear rolled down the detainees cheek as he relayed how much he missed his family.
“He said that thinking of you, members of his family, is what gave him the strength to persevere, to keep going day to day, even under these awful circumstances.” said Van Hollen, who spoke just after his return from the dramatic visit to see Abrego Garcia.
Van Hollen said Abrego Garcia knew nothing about the Supreme Court directive to facilitate his return, and had been blocked from information about the outside world even after his transfer from the notorious CECOT prison, as it is known by its Spanish-language acronym.
Abrego Garcia is now at a facility in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
“He still has no access to any news from the outside world and no ability to communicate with anybody in the outside world,” Van Hollen said.
“His conversation with me was the first communication he had with anybody outside a prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes.”
Abrego Garcia was protected from removal to El Salvador by an immigration judge in 2019, and the Justice Department has said in court his removal was due to an “administrative error.”
Van Hollen went on to attack the Trump administration for seeking to peg Abrego Garcia as a MS-13 gang member, a claim that primarily rests on one tip from a confidential informant, rather than fix its mistake.
“The Trump administration wants to flat out lie about what this case is about. They want to change the subject. They want to make it about something else and they are flouting the orders from the federal district court to Fourth Circuit Court and the Supreme Court to facilitate his return,” he said.
But he noted that while the Trump administration has released court documents mentioning the initial gang tip and another showing his wife initially sought – then declined to pursue – a protective order, it has not presented any of that evidence in court, even as a judge has said they have failed to demonstrate he was an MS-13 member.
“In other words, put up in court or shut up,” Van Hollen said, adding that even noncitizens have a right to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
“This case is about upholding constitutional rights for Abrego Garcia and for every American. President Trump and the Trump administration wants to say that those who are fighting to stand up for our Constitution don't want to fight gang violence. That is an outright lie. That is a big, big lie. I, for one, have been fighting against transnational gang violence, especially MS-13, for over 20 years. Probably for longer than Donald Trump ever uttered those words, MS-13,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen also told of being rebuffed by Salvadoran leaders as he sought to secure a meeting, and that he was later blocked by the military when he tried to drive to CECOT.
Van Hollen credited his presence on the ground and a press conference attended by Salvadoran media with pressuring Bukele to change his mind.
“I think the reason they relented is pretty clear. They were feeling the pressure. I mean, they were feeling the pressure because while I was in El Salvador, we had two major press conferences that included the local press who reported on this. And I think that they decided that it was not a good look to continue to detain Abrego Garcia without anybody having access to him. There's no other explanation for the fact that they said ‘no, no, no, no, no,’ and then prevented us from going to prison,” he said.
The meeting was arranged at the last minute – as Van Hollen was preparing to board a flight back to the U.S. But rather than visiting Abrego Garcia in prison, they transported him in plain clothes to the hotel where Van Hollen was staying.
The Salvadoran government initially tried to stage the meeting by the hotel’s pool, which Van Hollen declined.
“This is a guy who’s been in CECOT, this is a guy who’s been detained. They wanted to create this appearance that life was just lovely for Kilmar, which of course is a big, fat lie,” he said.
During the meeting, staff brought over margaritas for the pair, including giving Abrego Garcia a glass with less liquid, something Van Hollen said was designed to make it look like the detainee was enjoying a beverage.
“Nobody drank any margaritas,” Van Hollen said, arguing that can be verified in photos as the salt rim went untouched.
“But this is a lesson into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what's going on.”
Van Hollen said he learned that the Trump administration is paying the Salvadoran government $15 million to house Abrego Garcia and other deported men for the next year – up from the $6 million figure initially reported.
“I just urge the president of El Salvador, the Vice President El Salvador, to rethink whether they want to become the place it just gets paid off for being complicit in this illegal scheme.”
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