Sen. Van Hollen back El Salvador after meeting with Abrego Garcia
Sen. Chris Van Hollen returned from El Salvador after meeting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration.
WASHINGTON − Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said in a new interview he’s “vouching” for Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s rights – not the man himself – when asked about the Trump administration’s allegations that he’s part of the MS-13 gang.
“I want to be very clear: I’m not vouching for the man. I’m vouching for the man’s rights,” Van Hollen said in an April 20 appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “His constitutional rights to due process.”
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador last week to meet with Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported in March in what the White House has acknowledged was “an administrative error.” After local officials had initially blocked the Maryland Democrat, Van Hollen sat down with the 29-year-old Salvadoran national on April 17.
President Donald Trump’s administration has released documents alleging that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, a newly designated terrorist organization, and are rejecting calls to retrieve him. The Supreme Court told Trump administration officials to facilitate his return, but officials have argued they do not have the authority to retrieve Abrego Garcia from another country’s prison.
Abrego Garcia’s family has denied that he was a gang member, and he has not been charged or convicted of any crime.
Abrego Garcia was recently moved from El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center to another facility. The senator urged the White House to bring Abrego Garcia back to in order to further litigate his case in American courts.
“They need to put up or shut up in court,” he told Fox News’ Shannon Bream. “If they’ve got evidence, you put it before the court. Don’t spread it all over social media if you don’t think it can stand the test of court scrutiny.”
“Let’s be really clear,” he added, “that the fundamental issue right now is the fact that the Trump administration is ignoring court orders, and if you deny one person their constitutional rights, you threaten the constitutional rights of everybody.”
Federal officials have cited a redacted 2019 gang report alleging he was a member of MS-13 and an unredacted 2021 temporary protective order filed by his wife for a domestic dispute, among other documentation.
“There is no Maryland father,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an April 16 briefing. “Let me reiterate, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist who was deported back to his home country.”
Leavitt also pointed to a copy of a 2021 temporary protective order request Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, filed after a domestic dispute. According to the order, Abrego “punched and scratched” Vasquez Sura and “ripped off shirt, grabbed and bruised her.”
Vasquez Sura told USA TODAY in a statement that she had acted out of caution after a disagreement in filing the temporary protective order, which was closed a month after she filed it, according to Prince George’s County records.
Contributing: Eduardo Cuevas