USA TODAY in El Salvador: Van Hollen denied access to Abrego Garcia
USA TODAY reporter Will Carless reports from El Salvador where Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he was denied requests to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
TECOLUCA, El Salvador – Sen. Chris Van Hollen was stopped by armed guards Thursday at a military checkpoint and turned away less than two miles from the notorious prison where a Maryland father who was wrongly deported from the U.S. is being held.
It was the second day in a row the Maryland Democrat has been refused entry into the prison, even though two GOP House members were given a tour of the facility just two days earlier.
USA TODAY was following the senator’s motorcade when it was stopped. The checkpoint he was stopped at appeared to be set up specifically to keep him from the prison.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in hopes of touring the prison and meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was detained by U.S. immigration officials in March and deported to El Salvador despite a prior court order that forbade him from being returned to the Central American country.