LOS ANGELES.–Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador today gain access to deported 30-year-old illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia who sits in the CECOT, a supermax terrorism confinement center in El Savador. Trump officials admit that Abrego was deported to CECOT by mistake March 15, prompting his wife and pro bono legal team to demand that he be returned to Maryland where he’s lived since he was 2011. Hollen was denied access in person or by phone with Abrego, unable to verify his condition. “I asked the vice president if I could meet with Abrego Garcia, and he said you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,” Van Hollen told reporters in San Salvador. Van Hollen said he was not interested in taking a tour of CECOT, he was interested in speaking directly to Abrego. “I said, I’m not interested in taking a tour of CECOT, I just want to meet Mr. Abrego Garcia,” said Van Hollen.
Van Hollen said he couldn’t arrange a meeting with Abrego, prompting more members of the House to say they want to lead their own delegation to meet with Abrego. “He said I was not able to make that happen,” said Van Hollen. “We have an unjust situation here,” Van Hollen said, not recognizing that Abrego Garcia, whether he lived in the U.S. for the last 14 years or not, was not a legal immigrant. “Complete disgrace to his office,” said Trump spokesman Stephen Cheung. Hollen ‘should be thoroughly shamed for his disgusting actions,” Cheung said. Van Hollen rejected statements from the White House that said Abrego Garcia was an MS 13 gang member or was one in the past. “And this is a lie to cover up what they did,” said Van Hollen. They illegally abducted Mr. Abrego Garcia from Maryland and sent him to CECOT,” Van Hollen said, not telling the whole story.
Abrego Garcia falls into the category of an illegal alien who entered the county illegally sometime in 2011. Whether or not he made a life and paid taxes in American is not the issue, according to Trump’s border Czar Tom Homan. Homan doesn’t care whether or not Garcia received a withholding order from judge saying he can’t be deported. White House officials said Abrego Garcia was sent to CECOT was a mistake but not deporting him because of his illegal immigrant status. “If we get rid of due process in the United States, it’s a short road from there to tyranny,” said Van Hollen, unfairly accusing the White House of violating Abrego’s due process rights. Van Hollen and other Democrats have played politics by making Abrego Garcia a cause célèbre for the fake news. Democrats and the press hope that Abrego Garcia can help wreck Trump’s approval ratings.
Democrats are concerned only about winning back the House and Senate in the Midterm elections, so anything they can do to smear Trump is good for Democrats. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi disagreed completely with Democrat and press tactics to make the White House look like their breaking the law, flouting the federal courts, including the April 6 Supreme Court order. When the Supreme Court ordered Trump to make attempts to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return from CECOT, they didn’t say he would be in contempt of court if he didn’t accomplish it. “He’s not coming back to our country,” and El Salvador President Nayid Bukele said “he was not sending him back.” So, technically, the Justice Department obeyed the April 6 Supreme Court order to “facilitate” bringing Abrego Garcia back. If El Salvador refuses to cooperate, there’s not much the Trump administration can do.
Bondi wanted to make clear to Van Hollen and others playing politics with Abrego Garcia. “That’s the end of the story,” Bondi said. “If he wanted to send him back, we would give him a plane ride back. There was no situation, ever, where he was going to stay in this country. None. None. He would’ve come back, and one extra step of paperwork, and gone back again. But he’s from El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador, and that’s where the president plans on keeping him,” Bondi said. To Bondi, the rule of law is clear on Kilmar Abrego Garcia being an illegal alien and having no legal basis to stay in the United States. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fl.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said they would travel of El Salvador for a “welfare check” on Abrego Garcia. “We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s “release from custody in El Salvador,” Frost said.
Democrats and the fake news want to keep Abrego Garcia in the news for one purpose, to discredit the Trump White House before the 2026 election. Abrego Garcia, as an illegal alien, has no legal standing in the United States. Bondi made to issue as clear as day, he’s from El Salvador and he was returned to El Salvador. District Court Jude Paula Xinis asked where the White House acted in good faith on the April 6 Supreme Court order to “facilitate” his return for proper adjudication. If Trump met with El Salvador President Nayid Bulke who said there’s nothing he could do to get Abrego Garcia out of CECOT, then what can Trump do? Does Xinis and the Supreme Court think Trump should threaten sanctions or war with El Salvador if they don’t return the illegal alien back to America? Democrats and the press have one goal exploiting Abrego Garcia to win the House and Senate back in 2016.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
