Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Sunday that his recent trip to El Salvador was not about defending Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident deported despite a court order, but about defending the Constitution.
“I am not defending the man. I’m defending the rights of this man to due process,” Van Hollen told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “And the Trump administration has admitted in court that he was wrongfully detained and wrongfully deported. My mission and my purpose is to make sure that we uphold the rule of law, because if we take it away from him, we do jeopardize it for everybody else.”
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador last week to seek answers about the detention and safety of Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March to the country’s notorious CECOT prison, despite a 2019 court order prohibiting his removal due to safety fears. The Trump administration alleged he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang — an accusation his attorneys and his family firmly deny.
Abrego Garcia, who fled from gang threats in El Salvador in 2011, is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of a 5-year-old son with autism. He was apprehended by ICE in Maryland on March 12, transferred to a Texas detention center, and then deported — something the administration later called an “administrative error.” He remains under a final order of removal.
“I think, at some point, the president of El Salvador realized it was looking really bad to have this person who had been absconded from the streets of Maryland in one of their prisons and not able to communicate,” Van Hollen said. “So I ended up getting a call saying, ‘We will bring him to your hotel,’ and that’s how we met.”Initially denied access to CECOT, Van Hollen had been preparing to leave the country when he was notified that Abrego Garcia would be brought to him.
Karl asked the senator what Abrego Garcia shared during their meeting.
“He told me about the trauma he had been experiencing, both in terms of the abduction and the fact that he was originally sent to CECOT, which is this notorious prison,” Van Hollen said. “He specifically mentioned his 5-year-old boy who has autism, because that boy had been in the car with him when U.S. agents had stopped them and handcuffed him and then taken him away.”
Van Hollen also criticized the role of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, saying his government was “complicit in this illegal scheme with the Trump administration,” and called it a violation of international law to prevent any communication with a prisoner.
“The family hadn’t heard from him. Nobody had any contact for weeks,” Van Hollen said. “This is a guy who’s just abducted off the streets of Maryland, put in a couple airplanes, didn’t know he was going to El Salvador, and ends up in the most notorious prison.”
The senator also addressed questions about optics after Salvadoran authorities reportedly tried to stage the meeting at a hotel pool.
“They actually wanted to have the meeting by the hotel pool,” Van Hollen said. “They wanted to put me right overlooking the pool. You’re absolutely right that the Salvadoran authorities tried to deceive people. They tried to make it look like he was in paradise.”
Karl asked if Van Hollen had walked into a trap.
“It wasn’t a trap. My goal was to meet with him and make sure I could tell his wife and family he was OK. That was my goal, and I achieved that goal,” the senator said.
Van Hollen also weighed in on broader implications for presidential power.
“This is a person who the United States courts have determined was illegally taken from the United States,” he said. “And my whole purpose here is to make sure that we observe the rule of law, the Constitution, due process, rights….It just goes to show the lengths that Bukele and Trump will go to try to deceive people about what this case is all about, and simply complying with the Supreme Court order to facilitate his return and make sure he gets due process.”
Of the Trump administration, Van Hollen said: “Here’s where they should put their facts: They should put it before the court. They should put up or shut up in court, because the district court judge in this case said, and I quote, ‘They put no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or to any other terrorist activity.’”
On criticism from Republicans that Democrats are defending a gang member, Van Hollen pushed back forcefully.
“The idea that you can’t defend people’s rights under the Constitution and fight MS-13 and gang violence is a very dangerous idea. That’s the idea the president wants to put out. That’s why they’re spreading all these lies.” Van Hollen said. “I would say that anyone that’s not prepared to defend the constitutional rights of one man when they threaten the constitutional rights of all doesn’t deserve to lead.”
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