The Trump White House is furious with Sen. Chris Van Hollen after he traveled to El Salvador and met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a man the administration has labeled a “terrorist,” even though he’s never been charged with a crime.
Van Hollen made the meeting a top priority during his trip, saying, “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love.”
That didn’t sit well with the Trump administration.
“Chris Van Hollen has firmly established Democrats as the party whose top priority is the welfare of an illegal alien MS-13 terrorist,” said White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai. “It is truly disgusting. President Trump will continue to stand on the side of law-abiding Americans.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported last month — despite a 2019 court order that said he shouldn’t be. Even the Justice Department admitted his deportation was a mistake. Now, he’s locked up in one of El Salvador’s most brutal mega-prisons, a facility known for harsh conditions and overcrowding.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele mocked the visit online. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” he tweeted, along with a photo of the meeting.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the U.S. government must help bring Abrego Garcia back. But the Trump administration claims the decision is out of their hands now — and is paying El Salvador $6 million to keep him and over 250 other deportees locked up.
The fight over Abrego Garcia has now become a political flashpoint, with Trump allies hammering Van Hollen and the Biden-era immigration policies they say led to this debacle.
