CNN —
US Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday seeking to meet with government officials there about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who had been living in his state until he was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration last month to a mega-prison in the Central American nation.
“I just landed in San Salvador a little while ago, and I look forward to meeting with the team at the U.S. embassy to discuss the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” the Maryland Democrat wrote on X. “I also hope to meet with Salvadoran officials and with Kilmar himself. He was illegally abducted and needs to come home.”
Ahead of his flight early Wednesday, Van Hollen said he aimed to “check on [Abrego Garcia’s] condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home.”
Related article What to know about Abrego Garcia’s deportation case
The March deportation of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident, has become a flashpoint in the fight over the Trump administration’s hardline deportation push.
The senator’s trip swiftly drew the ire of the White House.
Communications director Steven Cheung called Van Hollen “a complete disgrace” and the Office of Communications accused the senator in a statement of a lack of concern regarding crimes they say were committed by undocumented immigrants against his constituents. Abrego Garcia has not been charged with any crimes in the United States.
While Abrego Garcia had not been legally in the US prior to his deportation, a 2019 court order said he could not be returned to El Salvador and the Trump administration admitted in court documents he was deported there due to a clerical error.
In recent days, however, Trump administration officials have denied that he was mistakenly deported. US officials have alleged he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which the administration has designated as a foreign terrorist organization – a claim his attorneys dispute and at least one federal judge has voiced skepticism toward.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling that the US must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, White House officials have argued it’s up to El Salvador whether to do so. The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele made clear during an Oval Office meeting earlier this week that the Maryland man wouldn’t be returned to the US.
Bukele said during the meeting that while he has the power to release Abrego Garcia, he wasn’t willing to do so.
Officials in the Oval Office meeting, including President Donald Trump, made no effort to ask for his cooperation in the matter.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Emily Condon contributed to this report.
