2. Van Hollen is now discussing the conditions inside Cecot prison, where Ábrego García was first held.
3. Ábrego García told the senator he guessed there were about 100 people packed into some of the cells.
4. He added that during daily roll calls, everyone calls out their names.
5. In his own cell, there were about 25 people.
6. He said he wasn’t afraid of the prisoners in his own cell, but he did get taunted by others.
9. Van Hollen is now talking about whether he drank margaritas with Ábrego García.
10. Some people on social media have been mocking Ábrego García for supposedly drinking margaritas with Van Hollen, based on a photo Van Hollen shared.
11. The senator says the glasses of margarita were put there by Salvadoran government officials to make it look like the two had been drinking alcohol.
12. He insists that neither of them touched the cocktail.
15. Van Hollen is now talking about what the Trump administration said regarding how Ábrego García ended up in El Salvador.
16. In court, they said he had been “mistakenly detained”, calling it an “administrative error”.
17. Van Hollen says this error led to him being “abducted… that has deprived him of his personal freedom and liberty”.
18. Instead of correcting their mistake, Van Hollen says they sacked the lawyer who “told the truth” about it.
19. He also says that, even though the courts ordered Ábrego García’s return, the Trump administration and El Salvador are ignoring this.
20. “This case is not only about one man… It is about protecting fundamental freedoms,” he adds.
23. Van Hollen now turns to the Trump administration: “If you want to make claims about Mr Abrego Garcia and MS-13, you should present them in the court and not over social media, not at press conferences where you rattle stuff off.”
24. He quotes Judge Xinis’ opinion, saying the Trump administration have given no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or any other terrorist group.
25. “In other words, put up in court or shut up,” he says, getting a round of applause.
28. Ábrego García wants to speak to his wife, according to Van Hollen. The senator told Ábrego García he would do his best to make this happen.
29. He also shared news of the support Ábrego García is receiving, including from people in his sheetmetal workers union who are fighting to bring him home. “That brought a smile to his face,” Van Hollen says.
30. Van Hollen also mentioned the courts that have ruled Ábrego García should be released, including the Supreme Court, which “gave him strength”.
33. Van Hollen is sharing details from his conversation with Ábrego García yesterday in El Salvador.
34. He says Ábrego García described being arrested in Maryland, transferred to Texas, and then deported.
35. Ábrego García spoke about being handcuffed, shackled, and not told where he was being taken, according to Van Hollen.
36. Van Hollen says Ábrego García ended up in a cell “with about 25 other prisoners at Cecot”.
37. Van Hollen says that about eight or nine days ago, Ábrego García was moved to another prison in Santa Ana in El Salvador, which had better conditions.
38. But he still had “no access to any news from the outside world and no ability to communicate with anyone on the outside”.
39. Van Hollen says this conversation was Abrego Garcia’s first contact with anyone outside the prison since he was taken.
42. Van Hollen says just as he was about to leave the country, he got word they could meet.
43. Ábrego García was brought to the senator’s hotel.
44. Van Hollen says Ábrego García told him that he was worried about his family and those supporting him as they deal with his case.
45. Ábrego García said thinking of his family gives him the strength to keep going through the “horrible ordeal and nightmare,” Van Hollen recalls.
46. Ábrego García also spoke about his five-year-old son, who was in the car when he was arrested in Maryland in March, according to Van Hollen.
49. Van Hollen says getting a meeting with Ábrego García was not easy.
50. He explains he made several attempts, including speaking to the country’s vice-president, but was told no several times.
51. He says he tried again by “driving to Cecot” – the prison where Abrego Garcia is held – with his lawyer.
52. Van Hollen says they were stopped by soldiers on the way, who said they had orders not to allow the US senator to go any further.
55. We’re now getting more details about yesterday’s meeting with Ábrego García.
56. Van Hollen says he asked El Salvador to release him, and his “principle mission” was to meet with him.
57. Last night, at 20:45 local time (01:45 BST), he rang Ábrego García’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and told her they’d met.
58. Ábrego García missed his wife and family, Van Hollen says.
59. Media caption,
60. Watch: US senator Hollen says his ‘principle mission’ was to meet Ábrego García
63. Van Hollen continues: “The Trump administration wants to flat out lie about what this case is about.”
64. He adds that they are “flouting the orders” from the federal district court and the Supreme Court, which require the administration to help Abrego Garcia return.
67. Image source, Reuters
68. Chris Van Hollen has arrived to loud shouting and applause.
69. A slew of photographers rushed in front of him.
70. He hugs the group before speaking to the press.
71. “It’s good to be home. Now we need to end the illegal abduction of Kilmar Ábrego García and bring him home too,” he says.
72. He argues this case isn’t just about “one man” – it’s “about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States”.
73. He also reminds viewers that the Supreme Court of the United States voted 9-0 to order Donald Trump to facilitate Ábrego García’s return.
76. Image source, Reuters
77. Chris Van Hollen has just arrived at the microphones.
78. Stick with us, we’ll bring you the top lines.
79. You can also Watch live at the top of this page.
82. Image source, Reuters
83. Jennifer Vazquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Ábrego García, has just arrived at the press conference and was greeted with cheers from supporters.
86. Image source, Getty Images
87. Donald Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration into the United States was a big part of his 2024 presidential campaign.
88. In a speech to Congress last month, Trump claimed 21 million people had “poured into the United States” in the previous four years of Joe Biden’s presidency.
89. According to a review by BBC’s Verify, there is no evidence for a figure this high. Encounters with migrants at the borders – one measure of illegal migration – reached to about 10 million under Biden, but that doesn’t mean that all of those people stayed in the US.
90. It is impossible to know exactly how many migrants have come to the US illegally, as many will have evaded encounters with law enforcement agencies, but several estimates put the number at around half of what Trump has claimed.
91. A report published by the Office of Homeland Security, external last year estimates there are 11 million migrants illegally living in the US as of January 2022 – about a fifth having arrived in 2010 or later but the majority before this date.
92. In February, Homeland Secretary Kirsty Noem said her office had seen the lowest apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the US-Mexico border in 15 years. The BBC has not independently verified this claim.
95. While a judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate the return Kilmar Ábrego García to the US, the White House argues it cannot bring him home.
96. Here’s how Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered the news yesterday.
97. Media caption,
98. Watch: White House says Kilmar Abrego Garcia will ‘never’ live in US again
101. What do Democrats and Republicans make of Kilmar Ábrego García’s deportation and Senator Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador to meet him?
102. Democrats:
103. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders – “In defiance of the Supreme Court & without any evidence, the White House claims that Kilmar Ábrego García is a ‘terrorist’ who was ‘sent to the right place.'”
104. Former presidential candidate Hilary Clinton – “Thank you, Sen. Van Hollen, for standing up not just for Kilmar Ábrego García but for every American who believes in due process. We can’t stop speaking out until he’s home and this administration stops its horrific practice of kidnapping people without charge or trial.”
105. Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin – “If the rights of non-citizens are not secure, then the rights of citizens are not secure.”
106. Republicans:
107. Missouri Congressman Jason Smith – “Thanks to President Trump, the Cecot prison in El Salvador, which is home to some of the country’s most vicious criminals, now includes illegal immigrants who broke into our country and committed violent acts against Americans.”
108. Texas Congressman August Pfluger – “Democrats are fighting on behalf of illegal criminals on your dime, Republicans will continue [to] fight for the safety of American citizens,” according to Politico
109. Georgia Congressman Mike Collins – “This is a sitting U.S. Senator [Chris Van Hollen] consoling an MS-13 gang member. Traitorous.”
112. Image source, EPA
113. At the start of the week, amid the row over the fate of Ábrego García, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele met with Donald Trump at the White House.
114. The two sat down for a chat in the Oval Office, with the media watching.
115. Many were keen to hear what they’d say about the detained man’s fate.
116. Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters the fate of the father of three is now up to El Salvador.
117. Bukele said he didn’t have the power to return Ábrego García to the US – and that he won’t.
118. Trump said Bukele was “really helping out” the US by facilitating the detention of hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants being deported by the US. The Salvadoran president replied that his country was “very eager to help”.
119. Trump also floated the idea of sending US citizens to the maximum-security prison Cecot, but said he’d need to look into the legal technicalities first.
120. The meeting was jovial, with both leaders seeming at ease with their alliance.
123. Image source, EPA
124. Last night, Chris Van Hollen announced on X that he had finally met with Kilmar Ábrego García.
125. It was an unexpected meeting that Van Hollen had been trying to arrange, and it’s still unclear how it actually happened.
126. On Tuesday, when El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was in the US to meet President Trump, Van Hollen’s request to meet was rejected.
127. So, Van Hollen decided to fly to El Salvador on 16 April.
128. He posted a video from El Salvador saying he, Ábrego García’s family and lawyers were denied entry to the Cecot prison.
129. But hours later, Van Hollen surprised everyone by posting a picture in what looked like a restaurant, sitting next to Ábrego García, who was in regular clothes.
130. “I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” he wrote.
131. Bukele also commented, saying the prisoner had “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’”, but will remain in custody now he has been seen publicly alive and well.
134. Campaigners are awaiting Senator Chris Van Hollen’s arrival, as he is due to shortly be giving a news conference.
135. They’re standing behind a cluster of microphones, holding signs asking for the release of Ábrego García.
136. Image source, Reuters
139. BBC Mundo
140. Image source, Reuters
141. Image caption,
142. The notorious prison has a capacity to hold 40,000 inmates
143. El Salvador’s Cecot prison is the symbol of the aggressive and controversial “war on gangs” President Bukele has brought forward since 2022.
144. The Center for the Confinement of Terrorism is an enormous facility located in a rural area spanning 116 hectares (287 acres). It was built in less than a year and has the capacity to hold 40.000 inmates, according to the government.
145. BBC Mundo was allowed to go inside the facility last year. We witnessed that cells have no windows or ventilation and prisoners sleep on metal bunks without mattresses or sheets.
146. Each cell can hold more than 150 prisoners and there are only two toilets with no privacy whatsoever. They have limited access to water.
147. Inmates reportedly eat with their hands inside the cells, and they are only allowed to go out to exercise for 30 minutes a day.
148. The prison has been used to hold former members from rival gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18.
149. It has a complex maximum-security system that includes 19 watchtowers, more than 1,000 guards and a 2.1 km-long electric fence.

Page 2

Live reporter, Washington DC

Image source, EPA

The story of Kilmar Ábrego García continues today.

We’re expecting to hear soon from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who will be speaking to members of the press a day after his meeting with Ábrego García in El Salvador.

If you’re not familiar with the case, Ábrego García was mistakenly deported from Maryland in the United States in March, and sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration.

Since then, there’s been widespread outcry for his return to the US.

But President Donald Trump and his administration remain steadfast in their view he doesn’t belong in the US, accusing him of being a member of the MS-13 gang.

Van Hollen has been taking matters into his own hands and flew out to see Ábrego García earlier in the week.

He met him yesterday – apparently at a hotel or restaurant instead of the prison – and said he would provide an update upon his return to the US in just under an hour.

We will be here covering all the lines from that news conference. Until then, we’ll be filling you in on all you need to know about the case, so stick with us.