Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D) has met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia who Trump administration immigration officials wrongly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
The senator shared a photo with Abrego Garcia at what appears to be a restaurant.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Sen. Van Hollen said. “Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
The meeting came hours after Van Hollen said he was denied entry into an high-security El Salvador prison Thursday while he was trying to check on Abrego Garcia’s well-being and push for his release.
Donald Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send Abrego Garcia back, even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.
Trump officials have said that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys say the government has provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity, the Associated Press reports.
