'Unjust and illegal': Sen. Chris Van Hollen fighting to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to US
In a meeting at the White House on Monday, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he will not release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from prison.
"It's absolutely unjust and illegal to have this Marylander detained one more day in a notorious prison in El Salvador," said U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to arrange for Abrego Garcia's return before the Supreme Court temporarily paused the order on the day of the deadline.
Abrego Garcia's family spoke out about his deportation after the Supreme Court paused the deadline.
"We're not going to give up hope," said Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia's wife.
The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the Trump administration must work to bring Abrego Garcia back, rejecting the administration's emergency appeal.
Van Hollen said he requested to meet with Bukele, but he plans to travel to El Salvador and attempt to meet there if the meeting in the U.S. does not happen.
"I saw that the families, the lawyers, have asked that the administration lawyers be held in contempt, and I think that's an absolutely appropriate move to take right now," Van Hollen said. "They're absolutely snubbing their nose at the courts right now, including the Supreme Court."
Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat representing District 4, said the Trump administration is "trying to force a constitutional crisis."
"President Trump can direct him to bring him back, the attorney general can direct him to bring him back," Ivey said.
Van Hollen was clear that if Abrego Garcia isn't released, Congress will use the Trump administration's budget request to add pressure on El Salvador.
"You can be sure it will include support for the government of El Salvador. That goes through all of us. That goes through the Congress, and I want to very clearly — diplomatically — let the president of El Salvador know Congress has a direct say in that support for El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia's family and supporters gathered for a prayer service on Monday while Trump and Bukele met.
Video below: Rally held in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Others rallied outside the George H. Fallon Federal Building in Baltimore in support of Abrego Garcia.
"All my friends are sick to their stomach," said one man who attended the rally. "People with a heart and soul are sick to their stomach, and I can't stay home. It's not the way I was brought up. It's not the way any of us believed in our country, and what we thought was truth. Justice is the American way, and what was fair, and this is wrong. And this is cruel. And I can't stand with it, so I speak up.
Free State Coalition was one of several groups who organized the rally, with many attendees announcing support for Van Hollen.
U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican representing Maryland's First District, said on Sunday he thought Abrego Garcia would be brought back.
"Well, first of all, it's just unclear whether or not he was an MS-13 gang member," Harris said. "An immigration court at one point found there was evidence that he was, and he didn't contest that evidence at the time. So that remains to be seen. But the fact of the matter is, he's in a foreign country. The United States will bring him back. But when you're in a foreign country, it's not just, you buy him an airline ticket and he comes back. You actually have to negotiate with that country."
