U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks to the media during a visit to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in San Salvador, El Salvador, April 16, 2025.
Jose Cabezas | Reuters
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 he was not transported back to the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return.
The Maryland senator, who represents the state where Abrego Garcia lived before he was sent to El Salvador, has called the Trump administration’s resistance to facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. an attempt to “cover up” his wrongful deportation.
Van Hollen has met this week with human rights groups, local embassy staff and top Salvadoran officials, including Vice President Félix Ulloa.
Prior to his meeting with Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen said on Thursday that he was denied entry to the prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia is being detained: a terrorism confinement center referred to as CECOT.
Van Hollen said he attempted to enter the facility alongside Chris Newman, the lawyer representing Abrego Garcia’s wife and mother, to “check on the health and wellbeing of Kilmar” but was promptly denied entry.
“We were stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about 3 kilometers from the CECOT prison,” Van Hollen told reporters. “We were told by the soldiers that they’d been ordered not to allow us to proceed any further than that point.”
During a meeting with El Salvador’s vice president Wednesday, Van Hollen said his requests to speak with Abrego Garcia, in person, virtually or by phone, were denied.
The vice president also denied a request from Van Hollen that day to facilitate a phone call between Abrego Garcia and his wife, who says she has not spoken to him since he was transferred to the Central American facility.
Several Maryland officials wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday demanding “verifiable proof that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is alive, healthy and safe.”
“It has now been over a month since Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally deported by federal authorities in direct violation of a court order, and during that time, his family has received no meaningful confirmation of his health,” the officials wrote.
Abrego Garcia migrated to the U.S. in 2011 and was protected by a 2019 court order that he could not be sent back to El Salvador.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
