MARYLAND NEWS – Senator Van Hollen flew to El Salvador to meet with a Maryland native deported by Trump officials

Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported by ICE officials as an alleged member of MS-13.

Van Hollen made the trip midweek as one of the senator’s conditions for embarking on the trip. Van Hollen posted to his social media from an airport in the U.S., where he was about to board a plane to Washington, D.C. he said in this video that his goal was to show Trump and the El Salvadoran government, “that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home until he returns to his family.” In a press conference with Salvadoran media, Van Hollen said he had “just met with the vice president of El Salvador. He went on to say, “We started the conversation on a point of agreement, which is that two countries should work together to crack down on transnational gangs like MS-13.” He also re-emphasized that Abrego Garcia has no ties with the MS-13 gangs.