On the first day of travel to El Salvador Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to that country, was denied a meeting or call. Van Hollen was able to meet with El Salvador vice president.
Abrego Garcia’s case sparked a series of court lawsuits during which Federal judge orders the government to return to him El Salvador Supermax Prison in Cecot.
The Trump administration filed this case To the Supreme Courtwhich also ordered the government to promote the return of Abreg Garcia.
Van Hollen went to El Salvador to check Abrego Garcia’s well-being and met with the leaders of the El Salvador government, promising that he would work to help him free his family.
Maryland Senator Want to See Abreg Garcia
Senator Van Hollen said he hopes to meet with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele. Instead, he met with Vice President Félix Ulloa on Wednesday. Van Hollen said at that meeting that Ulloa said he would need more time to schedule a face-to-face prison meeting between Abrego Garcia and the Senator.
But when the senator proposed to return next week, he said Uloa told him he could not promise a meeting. Van Hollen was also denied a call with Abrego Garcia. Ulloa suggested that the requests be processed by the U.S. Embassy instead.
“We have an injustice here,” Van Hollen said in a live-streamed press conference. “The Trump administration is lying, Abrego Garcia. The U.S. court has looked at the facts.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s illegal deportation
Senator Van Hollen stressed during the update that Abrego Garcia should not be deported because he was granted an immigration judge’s “detention and removal” order.
“Abreg Garcia is legally in the United States,” Van Hollen said. “A few years ago, an immigration judge found that if he was sent back to El Salvador, it would put his life at risk.”
Abrego Garcia was arrested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) in March for leaving work in Baltimore, Maryland, to return to Prince George’s County. On March 15, he was deported to El Salvador by plane, with more than 200 immigrants claiming to have gangs.
ICE later admits Abrego Garcia was deported Due to “administrative error”, However, they did not take any action to return him to the United States
Kilmar Abrego Garcia allegedly contacted MS-13
The Trump administration said Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and family deny. He has no criminal history in any country.
“Abrego Garcia’s case has nothing to do with MS-13,” said Senator Van Hollen. “If you listen to President Trump and the Trump administration, you would think that the U.S. court found that Mr. Abrego Garcia was part of MS-13, but they didn’t find it.
Why can’t El Salvador return Abrego Garcia to the United States?
Senator Van Hollen questioned why Abrego Garcia is still in Cecot in the latest news in El Salvador and asked the government if there is any evidence that Abrego Garcia’s gang contacts.
“The El Salvador government has no evidence that he is part of MS-13, so why does El Salvador continue to put him in Secot?” the senator questioned.
Van Hollen said the vice president said the Trump administration was paying El Salvador to keep Abrego Garcia in Cecot.
Vice President Ulloa was asked again why El Salvador was unable to release Abrego Garcia President Nayib Bukele During a visit to the White House, saying the country cannot smuggle Abreg Garcia back to the United States
