Senator Chris Van Hollen said Thursday evening that he had met in San Salvador with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose unjustified deportation to El Salvador last month has become a flash point in the debate on immigration and fueled a dead end between the Trump administration and the courses.
Mr. Van Hollen, a democrat of Maryland and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, shared a photo of the two men who spoke Thursday evening, a few hours after the senator was denied the entrance to the prison where Mr. Abrego Garcia was detained.
The unexpected meeting took place in a Hotel in San Salvador, according to the photos shared by the senator’s office on Thursday evening. In the images, Mr. Abrego Garcia was dressed in Cimes and sat on a conversation with Mr. Van Hollen. El Salvador president Nayib Bukele said on social networks that Abrego Garcia would remain in the care of his country.
The photos shared by Mr. Van Hollen and other people published by Mr. Bukele were the first public spots of Mr. Abrego Garcia since his deportation in March, that the Trump administration admitted to the court was a mistake. The Supreme Court has ordered the administration to “facilitate” its return, but a federal judge supervising the case rolled up the government so that “nothing” conforms.
“Our goal today was very simple,” said Van Hollen in an interview on Thursday, before the meeting with Mr. Abrego Garcia. “It was simply to be able to see if Kilmar Abrego Garcia is doing well. I mean, nobody has heard anything about his condition because he was illegally removed from the United States. He is completely out of reach.”
