Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Is in El Salvador to obtain answers about the unfair deportation of a Maryland migrant by the Trump administration, he said in a video before boarding a flight on Wednesday.
Van Hollen said that he had been planning the trip during the last days and that he hopes to meet Kilmar Abrego García in person and see his condition.
Abrego García, who, according to the reports, fled the political persecution of El Salvador and was deported last month by the United States Immigration and Customs Control Agency after an “administrative error”, remains in the CECOT prison despite the judicial orders requesting that the United States government “facilitates” back to the United States.
Sen. Chris van Hollen Speaks During a Press Conference in Antigua Cuscatlan, El Salvador, April 16, 2025.
Marvin Recinos/AFP via getty images
“The objective of this mission is to let the Trump administration know the Government of El Salvador that we will continue fighting to bring Abrego García home,” said Van Hollen in a video.
He published another video After landing and said he was going to meet with members of the United States Embassy in San Salvador.
It is not clear if someone else join the senator on the trip.
Van Hollen told the journalists later in the afternoon that he could not talk to the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, but that he spoke with the vice president. The senator asked why Abrego García was held in Cecot despite not criminal charges.
“His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the Government of El Salvador, to keep it in Cecot,” said Van Hollen.
“I am asking President Bukele under his authority as president of El Salvador to do the right thing and allow Mr. Abrego García to leave a prison, a man accused of non -crimes, convicted without crimes and was illegally kidnapped from the United States,” said the senator.
Sen. Chris van Hollen Speaks During a Press Conference in Antigua Cuscatlan, El Salvador, April 16, 2025.
Marvin Recinos/AFP via getty images
He added that he did not talk to Abrego García or entered Cecot. The members of the Republican Congress have toured the facilities in recent weeks and have published photos from the inside on social networks.
“I don’t know about his state of health, so I wanted to meet him directly,” said Von Hollen.
Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed that Abrego García is a member of the MS-13 gang and could be deported due to the executive orders of President Donald Trump on immigration. He added Wednesday morning during a press conference that Abrego García will not return to the United States.
“It shouldn’t be in our country,” Bondi said. “He was deported. They needed an additional step in paperwork, but now MS-13 is characterized as they should be like an FTO, as a foreign terrorist organization. Therefore, it will not return to our country.
“President Bukele said he wasn’t sending him back,” he added. “That is the end of the story.”
The Department of Justice has not made that accusation in judicial documents and admitted that deportation was a mistake, and Bondi refused to answer a journalist’s question about why the Department of Justice has not presented direct evidence of this. Abrego García’s family and lawyers have been fighting deportation for weeks in court.
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego García, speaks during a press conference on the day of a hearing in the case related to Kilmar Abrego García outside the United States District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, April 15, 2025.
Katopodis/getty images
Van Hollen reiterated that any of these accusations was not made in the Court and that charges related to accusations have been issued.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week that the 29 -year -old father, who had no criminal record in the United States, was illegally deported. However, Bondi has affirmed that the Government of El Salvador is not renouncing it.
“What thugs do is start choosing the most vulnerable,” said Van Hollen.
The White House criticized the senator in a statement on Wednesday afternoon reiterating accusations that Abrego García was a member of a gang and involved in trafficking in persons. None of these accusations or charges have been made in the Court, and the Department of Justice has not revealed any evidence that supports its claims.
“The illegal criminal immigrant is already at home: he is a Salvadoran citizen,” said the White House in a statement.
The senator said “he would continue to press” to ensure the release of Abro García.
Alexander Mallin of ABC News contributed to this report.
