SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Diya TV) — U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland met Wednesday with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported last month to El Salvador and detained in a maximum-security prison for gang members, despite multiple court orders protecting him from removal.
Van Hollen posted a photo of the meeting on the social media platform X, describing it as the central purpose of his trip. “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” the Democratic senator wrote. “I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
The meeting took place in what appeared to be a hotel, hours after Van Hollen was denied entry to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), the sprawling prison where Abrego Garcia has been held. Armed guards reportedly stopped the senator during his attempt to visit the facility earlier that day.
Photos shared by both Van Hollen and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele offered the first public glimpse of Abrego Garcia since his deportation. Bukele posted the images on X, joking sarcastically that Abrego Garcia had “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.”
Despite the optics of the meeting, Bukele stated that Abrego Garcia would remain in Salvadoran custody. “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” he added online.
Abrego Garcia was deported from Maryland on March 15 alongside scores of others in what the Trump administration later admitted was an “administrative error,” according to multiple reports. However, the White House continues to insist there was no mistake, citing accusations—denied by his legal team—that Abrego Garcia was affiliated with MS-13, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.
The legal saga has drawn national attention. On Thursday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a scathing ruling against the government, criticizing its refusal to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process,” wrote conservative Judge Harvie Wilkinson III. He called the situation “shocking” and questioned why the administration would not correct what it admitted was a wrongful deportation.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, celebrated news of the senator’s meeting with her husband, telling reporters that her “prayers have been answered” but that the family still has many questions about his fate. She previously filed a restraining order in 2021, alleging domestic abuse—a claim she now says the couple has worked through with counseling.
The Supreme Court has already ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, but the administration has resisted, fueling a constitutional showdown between the White House and the courts.
Van Hollen’s trip, which included a meeting with El Salvador’s Vice President Felix Ulloa, was aimed at pressuring Salvadoran authorities to release Abrego Garcia. The vice president reportedly denied the senator’s request for a visit or even a phone call, according to Reuters, making the eventual meeting a surprise.
The political temperature has continued to rise, with former President Donald Trump mocking Van Hollen’s visit in a post on his platform, Truth Social. “Van Hollen looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone,” Trump wrote.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Trump’s hardline stance during a Wednesday briefing, asserting that “he [Abrego Garcia] will never live in the United States of America.”
Still, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers maintain he has never been charged with any crime or had gang ties, and they continue to push for his return to Maryland, where he had been residing under a court order barring his removal.
As the legal fight intensifies, Van Hollen promised more updates after he returns to the U.S., saying he remains committed to securing Abrego Garcia’s safe return.
