On this photograph launched by Senator Van Hollen’s press workplace, Hollen, proper, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen who was residing in Maryland and deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration, in a resort restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Press Workplace Senator Van Hollen, by way of AP)
AP/Press Workplace Senator Van Hollen
disguise caption
toggle caption
AP/Press Workplace Senator Van Hollen
The Trump administration acquired bipartisan criticism on Sunday for its deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadorian citizen who lived in Maryland and was deported to a jail in El Salvador as a result of an “administrative error.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., known as the deportation a “screw up” although he stopped in need of pushing for Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. In the meantime, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. — who just lately visited Abergo Garcia in El Salvador — stated the case marks a “constitutional disaster.” The Maryland senator additionally known as for a strain marketing campaign on El Salvador’s authorities to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
The Trump administration has refused to convey again Abrego Garcia regardless of a Supreme Court docket order to “facilitate” his return. The Salvadoran citizen entered the nation illegally; an immigration choose stated he shouldn’t be deported to El Salvador as a result of Abrego Garcia was in a position to show he was more likely to undergo persecution in his house nation.
The White Home has stated it may well’t drive the Salvadoran authorities to launch one in every of its residents, whereas El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele known as the thought of Abrego Garcia’s launch “preposterous.”
On Thursday, a federal court denied the Trump administration’s attraction on the courtroom’s return-order.
‘Put up or shut up in courtroom’
Sen. Van Hollen defended his current journey to El Salvador Sunday after President Trump criticized his assembly with Abrego Garcia.
On Friday, Trump posed with a photograph of a person’s hand with tattooed knuckles.
“That is the hand of the person that the Democrats really feel ought to be introduced again to america,” Trump wrote on X the day Van Hollen returned from his journey. “They stated he’s not a member of MS-13, although he is acquired MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles.”
That is the hand of the person that the Democrats really feel ought to be introduced again to america, as a result of he’s such “a advantageous and harmless individual.” They stated he’s not a member of MS-13, although he’s acquired MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Extremely Revered Courts discovered… pic.twitter.com/31sNr2k1SK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2025
Van Hollen stated he did not see the markings on Abrego Garcia’s hand and that the president’s criticism and posts are inappropriate.
“I did not see a tattoo, however here is the primary level: Donald Trump and his administration must put up or shut up in courtroom,” Van Hollen stated on NPR’s Weekend Version. “They preserve placing stuff out on social media.”
Final week, the Trump administration posted beforehand unshared paperwork on X concerning a 2021 protective order towards Abrego Garcia and a 2022 traffic stop.
However Van Hollen stated these paperwork ought to be examined in courtroom and the posts on social media are supposed to “change the topic” away from the administration’s mistake.
When requested whether or not his advocacy for Abrego Garcia is a political threat and would possibly flip off voters — who largely assist President Trump’s deportation efforts — Van Hollen stated he is not nervous.
“I believe voters assist the thought of constructing certain that we respect constitutional rights as a result of if we deny them for one individual, they may very well be subsequent,” Van Hollen stated. “I believe conservatives and libertarians, after they give it some thought, they’re going to acknowledge how harmful it’s to deprive somebody of their private liberty with out due course of.”
Abrego Garcia deportation ‘was a screw up’
Sen. Kennedy, a Republican, known as the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia a “screw up,” but in addition criticized Van Hollen’s phrases as “rage bait.”
“The administration will not admit it,” Kennedy stated on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press with Kristen Welker’. “However this was a screw-up. Mr. Garcia was not speculated to be despatched to El Salvador. He was despatched to El Salvador.”
The Louisiana lawmaker additionally stated Abrego Garcia ought to have acquired a listening to earlier than his deportation to El Salvador’s infamous mega-prison, CECOT.
However, Kennedy threw chilly water on the concept that Abrego Garcia’s case marks what Van Hollen known as a “constitutional disaster.”
“The Democrats say, ‘Look, you recognize, we advised you Trump is a menace to democracy. That is going to occur each different Thursday afternoon,'” Kennedy stated mocking his liberal colleagues. “However I do not see any sample right here. I imply, you recognize, some day pigs might fly. However I doubt it.”
Kennedy argued that Abrego Garcia has acquired due course of — citing earlier, although non-specific courtroom hearings — and that the Trump administration hasn’t defied a courtroom order. However the Louisiana senator stated he’ll converse up if Trump skirts an order from the judiciary department.
“I do not consider that President Trump will defy a federal choose’s order,” Kennedy stated. “If he does, I will name him out on it.”
Individually, Kennedy stated he disapproved of Trump’s concept of sending American criminals to El Salvador. He known as the thought not “acceptable or ethical” — citing the eighth modification which protects U.S. residents from merciless and strange punishments.
