Sen. Van Hollen to Lead Democrat Lawmakers on El Salvador Trip to ‘Discuss’ Return of Deported Alleged MS-13 Gang Member

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has pledged to travel to El Salvador to “discuss” the release of an alleged MS-13 gang member who was deported last month, leading a group of other Democrat lawmakers to demand the man’s return to the U.S.

Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who entered the United States illegally when he was 16, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Maryland, where he resided, on March 12. 

Abrego-Garcia was previously arrested by immigration officials on March 28, 2019, with Judge Elizabeth Kessler finding that he “was arrested in the company of other ranking gang members and was confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.”

Arguing that he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13,” Kessler denied Abrego-Garcia’s bond. He married his pregnant girlfriend, an American citizen, while he was still in a Maryland immigration detention center, the Independent reported.

After his now-wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, gave birth to their first child together a few months later, Judge David M. Jones granted Abrego-Garcia’s request for “withholding of removal” back to El Salvador based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by MS-13 rival gang Barrio 18.

While the Salvadoran national was not granted asylum status because illegal aliens are required to make such a request within a year of entering the country, Abrego-Garcia was allowed to return back to his residence with his wife, child, and two stepchildren, and has routinely “checked in” with immigration officials, as recently as January 2 of this year, according to Lawfare.

In short, Abrego-Garcia was “removable,” but not to his country of origin, which is El Salvador. 

After his rearrest in March, he was transported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), though ICE said he was mistakenly placed on that particular flight, Breitbart News’s Randy Clark reported:

The U.S. Supreme Court, in an unsigned decision, has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego-Garcia. During a White House press conference on Monday, a reporter asked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele if he would return Abrego-Garcia as required by the court. Bukele responded, “How can I do that? I can’t smuggle a terrorist into the United States.”

Despite law enforcement officials stating that Abrego-Garcia is, in fact, affiliated with MS-13 — a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) — Van Hollen demanded a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele while he was in Washington, DC, to see President Donald Trump this week.

“I’ve been clear: if President Bukele doesn’t want to meet here in D.C., then I intend to go to El Salvador this week to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s condition and discuss his release,” the Democrat senator announced in a Monday X post:

“Kilmar was illegally ABDUCTED and deported by the Trump Admin. He must be brought home NOW,” he added.

Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Robert Garcia (D-NY), and Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) joined Van Hollen’s pledge, signaling that they are willing to help “organize other members of the House to do the same.”

“We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador,” Frost wrote on X:

“I’m in, we should go,” said Garcia:

Ansari added, “We need answers now. I’m ready to join Sen. @VanHollenForMD and my colleagues @MaxwellFrostFL, @RobertGarcia in El Salvador to demand Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release and get him safely back to his family.”

After Bukele’s meeting at the White House, Van Hollen said he believes the Latin American president “will reconsider when he understands the full story of this illegal detention.”

“I don’t think he wants to essentially be the president who’s kidnapped the United States citizen,” he added, according to NBC News. 

WATCH: Donald Trump’s Cabinet Members Explain Why Alleged MS-13 Gang Member Should Not Return to U.S. and Salvadoran President Says He Will Not Return Him

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, D.C. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.