Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) described Kilmar Abrego Garcia as “traumatized” following their meeting at a Salvadoran detention facility, escalating tensions over the Trump administration’s deportation of the Maryland resident to a notorious prison despite a Supreme Court ruling against the move.
Abrego Garcia, who fled gang threats in El Salvador in, was granted U.S. protection in but deported in March under a controversial agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador to imprison deportees at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador this week, reported that Abrego Garcia endured weeks in CECOT’s maximum-security environment before being transferred to a lower-security facility in Santa Ana, where he remains isolated.
The Trump administration has labeled his deportation an “administrative error” while alleging MS-1 gang ties—a claim his attorneys call baseless. The Supreme Court unanimously ruled his removal illegal on April, but officials have yet to facilitate his return.
Van Hollen, who became the first U.S. contact Abrego Garcia had since March, emphasized the urgency of due process: “This is about protecting constitutional rights for everyone in America”4. The case has become a flashpoint in debates over immigration enforcement and international detention practices.
