Van Hollen describes dramatic meeting with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador upon return to US

Sen. Chris Van Hollen took aim at President Donald Trump and the El Salvador government over their treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who the government said in court was erroneously deported to El Salvador, and for trying to deflect from the notion that the U.S. government is flouting court orders to “facilitate” his return to the U.S.

The Maryland Democrat joined Abrego Garcia’s wife and mother and other supporters at Washington Dulles International Airport on Friday and spoke about his three-day visit, providing more details about the one-hour conversation he had with Abrego Garcia.

Van Hollen said the Trump administration is lying about the case in attempt to distract from questions about whether Abrego Garcia’s rights were violated by bringing up gang violence.

“This case is not about just one man. It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everyone who resides in the United States of America,” he said.

Abrego Garcia opens up about conditions

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday to seek an audience with Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland for years prior to his arrest and deportation, and was initially refused access to the high-security CECOT prison, where he was believed to be held.

The senator said he was about to leave the country on Thursday but got a message from the U.S. Embassy that the El Salvador government would allow him to meet with Abrego Garcia. The deportee was then brought to the senator’s hotel.

Van Hollen revealed during the press conference that Abrego Garcia told him during their meeting that he has been moved out of CECOT to another facility that was further away.

“We all thought he was at CECOT, which I didn’t know until I met him,” he said.

Abrego Garcia described being handcuffed, shackled and put on planes with other migrants, noting that they could not see where they were going, according to the senator. Van Hollen added that Abrego Garcia was held in a cell with 25 other people and fearful of other prisoners who taunted him.

The senator said Abrego Garcia told him he was transported to his current facility nine days ago.

“He said the conditions are better, but he said despite the better conditions, he still has no access to news from the outside world and no ability to communicate with the outside world,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen was the first person Abrego Garcia had spoken to from the U.S. since his March arrest and deportation, and the senator said Abrego Garcia told him he is grateful for the support of people looking to get him back to the U.S.

“He said thinking of you, members of his family, is what gave him the strength,” the senator said.

Senator says El Salvador officials planted drinks at table

Van Hollen, however, alleged that the meeting was organized under questionable circumstances.

At first, the senator said that the El Salvador government tried to have the meeting poolside but that he had them take it indoors in a dining area. During the meeting, Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia had glasses of water and a coffee cup on their tables.

Van Hollen posted a photo with the glasses and coffee cups on his social media pages.

The senator said at one point during the meeting, officials put glasses on the table that appeared to have liquid inside with salt or sugar rims on top.

The glass that was in front of Abrego Garcia had less liquid than the other glass, according to Van Hollen.

“They tried to make it look like, I assume, that he drank out of it,” the senator said.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele posted a picture on X Thursday night with the two sitting together with the glasses.

Van Hollen insisted that neither he nor Abrego Garcia touched those glasses and said it was clear they didn’t based on the photo.

“They made a mistake,” he said of the government officials. “If you sip out of one of those glasses, some of whatever it was, salt or sugar, would disappear. You would see a gap. There’s no gap. No one drank anything.”

El Salvador’s government has not commented on the senator’s claim.

‘Put up in court or shut up’

Van Hollen took aim at the president for slamming him earlier in the day for the visit.

Trump has maintained claims, without providing evidence in court, that Abrego Garcia is a violent member of MS-13.

“They have no interest in that prisoner,” Trump said of the deportee’s advocates and supporters. “That prisoner’s record is unbelievably bad.

“This is the man that the Democrats are wanting us to fly back from El Salvador to be a happily ensconced member of the USA family — isn’t it a shame?” the president added.

Van Hollen repeated that Trump is lying about the case and attempting to change the story from being about Abrego Garcia’s due process rights to allegations of gang membership and violence.

“So the effort by the Trump administration to try to conflate these two issues goes to the heart of what I was just talking about: their effort to change the subject,” Van Hollen said.

The White House brought up the killing of Maryland woman Rachel Morin in response to Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador. Victor Martinez-Hernandez, the man convicted in the murder earlier this week, was a migrant from El Salvador living in the U.S. without legal status.

Van Hollen said Friday that he feels for the Morin family and that he is happy the courts convicted Martinez-Hernandez, but he reiterated that Trump is trying to distract from his constitutional duty.

“The reason we have courts of law are to punish the guilty but also to make sure that those who have not committed crimes are not found guilty and arbitrarily detained,” the senator said.

Van Hollen emphasized the Supreme Court has ordered the government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return and that none of the allegations about the deportee’s gang membership has been made in court.

“In other words, put up in court or shut up,” he said.

The senator said other members of Congress will be making trips to El Salvador to get to the bottom of the deportations.

“I won’t be the last,” he said. “El Salvador is making a big mistake. The president of El Salvador making a big mistake in being complicit in this illegal scheme.”