Topline
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., had a face-to-face meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia—the Maryland resident who was erroneously deported to El Salvador last month—on Thursday.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who … More
Key Facts
Van Hollen shared a photo of himself sitting down with Abrego Garcia on his social media handles and wrote: “My main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar…Tonight I had that chance.”
The Senator added that he had spoken with Abrego Garcia’s wife Jennifer, “to pass along his message of love” and will provide a “full update” on the matter after returning to the U.S.
Van Hollen did not mention where his meeting with the wrongly deported man took place and what caused the Salvadoran government to allow the meeting after initially initially denying it.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to get a face-to-face meeting with Abrego Garcia, but was initially denied entry to the CECOT maximum security prison where the Maryland resident was being held.
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What Has El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele Said About The Meeting
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele tweeted about Van Hollen’s meeting with Abrego Garcia and appeared to mock concerns about the deported man’s well being and conditions at the CECOT prison. In a post on X, Bukele shared photos of Hollen and Abrego Garcia and wrote: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” In a follow up tweet after Hollen’s meeting, Bukele said: “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.” The Salvadoran leader met with President Donald Trump at the White House earlier this week and said he does not intend to send back Abrego Garcia to the U.S. when asked. “The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said, reiterating Trump’s stance that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, a claim the deported man’s attorneys have dismissed.