Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) warned that he plans to travel to El Salvador later this week unless an alleged MS-13 gang member who was deported from the United States last month is brought back into the country.
The headline-making case centers around Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who illegally entered the U.S. and was later permitted to stay in 2019.
U.S. officials detained Garcia in Maryland, deported him, and he is now incarcerated in El Salvador.
Van Hollen contends that Garcia’s removal was unlawful and has called for his immediate return.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
He criticized the Trump administration’s handling of the matter, claiming they are “ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action.”
The Maryland Democrat announced he has requested a meeting with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who is currently visiting Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.
“That’s why I’ve requested to meet with President Bukele during his trip to the United States, and — if Kilmar is not home by midweek — I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release,” Van Hollen said.
The Trump administration has identified Garcia as a member of the violent transnational criminal group MS-13.
His legal team disputes the accusation, arguing that there’s no evidence linking him to the gang.
A recent statement by the U.S. Supreme Court directed that the government must “facilitate” Garcia’s return but stopped short of ordering it to “effectuate” the process.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller on Monday rejected any notion that Garcia’s deportation was in error.
Miller argued that a previous order protecting Garcia no longer applies due to Trump’s decision to designate MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization.
President Bukele, in Washington to meet with Trump, dismissed the idea of returning Garcia to the United States.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele told reporters. “I don’t have the power to return him.”
Van Hollen also said that he sent a letter to Milena Mayorga, El Salvador’s ambassador to the U.S., seeking a meeting with Bukele “urgently.”
Meanwhile, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi delivered a sharp rebuke of Van Hollen and his party during an appearance on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime.
Bondi said Democrats are ignoring the harsh realities of violent criminal activity, especially from organizations like MS-13.
“These people are so detached from reality that they don’t care about the victims of crimes in this country,” Bondi told host Jesse Watters.
“There is a reason that Donald Trump declared MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization. Because they have come to our country, they are highly organized. They are murdering people. They are raping people. They are organized crime at its worst.”
Bondi also commended Bukele for taking in deported criminals linked to organized crime and criticized lenient progressive policies that she argued embolden dangerous offenders.
“They are spread rampant throughout our country, and we are going to rid our country of MS-13 and TdA [Tren de Aragua]. We’re just thankful that President Bukele will take them in a prison in El Salvador,” she added.
Watters questioned the legality of sending individuals abroad for imprisonment.
In response, Bondi maintained that the focus should remain on protecting American citizens.
“Well, Jesse, these are Americans who he is saying who have committed the most heinous crimes in our country, and crime is going to decrease dramatically because he [President Trump] has given us a directive to make America safe again,” she replied.
“These people need to be locked up as long as they can, as long as the law allows. We’re not going to let them go anywhere, and if we have to build more prisons in our country, we will do it.”
Ironic that some of these democrats are so concerned about one person who entered our country illegally and most likely is an MS-13 member but thought it fine to arrest thousands of US citizens (many with young families) and incarcerate them for 4 years in an abusive gulag of a prison in DC, without permitting bail, all for misdemeanor charges. Are these people twisted or what?