Sen. Chris Van Hollen confirmed Thursday night that he met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the Trump administration said it mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March.
“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. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” Van Hollen wrote in a post on X.
Images of Van Hollen’s meeting with Abrego Garcia were first posted online by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has rebuffed calls to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release of Abrego Garcia after the Trump administration did not demonstrate any efforts to “facilitate” his return, despite a Supreme Court ruling last week requiring just that.
The legal battle continued Thursday, when a federal appeals court rejected an effort by the administration to put that requirement on hold. In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel said in its decision that the administration was trying to assert “a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process.”
