Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he has met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a union sheet metal worker and father of three who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month.
Van Hollen, who traveled to the Central American country this week, wrote in an April 17 message on X: “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,” he added. “I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Moments before the lawmaker posted a message and image, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted three additional photos from the meeting. He quipped that the two were sharing a margarita.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele said.
Abrego Garcia’s wife: ‘Prayers have been answered’
The meeting appeared to occur at the hotel Van Hollen had been staying at in San Salvador. Van Hollen’s office declined to release additional information and indicated the senator would hold a news briefing on April 18.
Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said she only knew where her husband had been taken based on news photos of men with their heads down being led through the notorious CECOT prison. She recognized her husband’s scars and tattoos.
Vasquez Sura said her “prayers have been answered” after Van Hollen’s announcement.
“The efforts of my family and community in fighting for justice are being heard, because I now know that my husband is alive. God is listening, and the community is standing strong,” she said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Van Hollen was stopped by armed guards at a military checkpoint earlier on April 17, less than two miles from the notorious prison where the Maryland man is being held. USA TODAY was following the senator’s motorcade when it was stopped.
The checkpoint appeared to be set up specifically to keep him from reaching the prison.
Abrego Garcia’s deportation case
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in hopes of touring the prison and meeting with Abrego Garcia, who was detained by U.S. immigration officials in March and deported to El Salvador despite a prior court order that forbade him from being returned to the Central American nation.
Department of Justice attorneys later confirmed that the man was wrongly removed from the country.
In early April, a federal judge ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. The Supreme Court also ruled 9-0 to “facilitate” his return on April 10.
Since then, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland demanded daily updates on the efforts to return him. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down an effort by the DOJ to slow the process of Abrego Garcia’s return, issuing a scathing reiteration to facilitate his return.
“The government asserts that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13. Perhaps, but perhaps not,” wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Ronald Reagan appointee. “Regardless, he is still entitled to due process.”
U.S. officials continue to contend that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, recently deemed a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration. Abrego Garcia denies being a member of the gang, and he has no criminal record.
Xinis, the federal judge in the case, has questioned the strength of the government’s evidence, which relies on a confidential informant and the clothing Garcia was wearing in the 2019 police encounter.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
