Sen. Van Hollen barred from seeing Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Salvadoran jail

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Apr 16, 2025

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen jetted to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release and return to the United States of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but was blocked from visiting the mistakenly deported immigrant in prison.

The Maryland Democrat said El Salvador’s vice president refused his request for a visit or to release Garcia even after the Supreme Court ordered the U.S. government to “facilitate” his return.

Van Hollen said the Salvadoran official told him that El Salvador was keeping Garcia in prison at the direction of the White House.

“His answer was that the Trump administration is paying ... the government of El Salvador to keep him (in prison),” Van Hollen told reporters in the capital of San Salvador. “They should let him go and we will find a way to get him (back) to Maryland.”

“This is an unjust and unsustainable moment,” Van Hollen added.

Salvadoran officials refused to allow Van Hollen to visit Garcia at the prison, which is known for strict security and harsh conditions, or talk to him.

The lawmaker’s trip comes a day after a federal judge again rebuked the Trump administration for failing to take any steps to comply with her order to bring Garcia back to the U.S.

District Court Judge Paula Xinis ordered officials to testify under oath about what if any steps they have taken to “facilitate” Garcia’s return as the Supreme Court ordered in a unanimous ruling.

The Trump administration says it considers the order to only require it to admit Garcia if he shows up at a border crossing or perhaps physically transporting him, not pushing for his release.

In a separate case, Circuit Court Judge James Boasberg moved to hold the Trump administration in contempt for defying his order to refrain from deporting Garcia and hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants last month.

He demanded new details about which government officials decided to ignore his order and allow planes to continue taking the deportees to Central America. The White House vowed to appeal.

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele said he has no plans to release or return Garcia during a chummy White House meeting with Trump on Monday.

The United States has sent Garcia and the alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador without any due process, citing the 1798 Alien Enemies Act. It agreed to pay $6 million to imprison them for a year.

Trump breezily told Bukele he hopes to expand the program to include “homegrowns,” referring to convicted or alleged criminals who are U.S. citizens, although legal experts say that would be unconstitutional.

A U.S. immigration judge had shielded Garcia, 29, from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs who had terrorized his family. He also was given a federal permit to work in the United States, where he was a metal worker and union member.

Administration officials described his deportation as “an administrative error” but insisted Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, without providing evidence.

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