Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen has explained why the Trump administration allegedly won’t be bringing back Kilmar Ábrego García, the man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador’s notorious prison.
Ábrego García was deported last month
The Trump Administration deported a man named Kilmar Armando Ábrego García last month to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in El Salvador.
The place is also notorious for being the ‘world’s worst prison’ and can hold over 40,000 people.
The administration admitted to an error
The Trump administration admitted to having made an ‘admin error’ which resulted in the deportation of Ábrego García, meaning the man is innocent.
Despite this admission, and the Supreme Court ruling that the administration ‘must facilitate’ the father’s return to America, he is yet to be brought back.
A Senator shared why that is
Since then, Senator Van Hollen has alleged that he was denied a meeting as well as a phone call with the wrongfully deported man.
He has also accused the Trump administration of more horrifying things than simply not facilitating Ábrego García’s return.
He detailed the situation to the press
Van Hollen spoke about the situation to the press, saying, “The courts of the United States have said there’s no evidence to support the charge that [Ábrego García] is part of MS13 [an international criminal gang] so I asked the vice president whether or not El Salvador has any evidence that he’s part of MS13 or has committed a crime.”
He questioned JD Vance on it
Van Hollen said he questioned the vice president on why El Salvador is “continuing to hold” Ábrego García at the prison when the man is said to be innocent.
The Senator asked why he hadn’t been brought back to the US after the courts ruled he was “illegally taken” from the country.
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Van Hollen claimed a shocking response from Vance
Van Hollen claimed that the vice president’s response to this was, “The Trump administration is paying El Salvador – the government of El Salvador – to keep him at CECOT.”
The Senator went on to detail the interaction
Van Hollen went on, “I pointed out that neither the government of El Salvador nor the Trump administration has presented evidence to support the claim that he’s committed any sort of criminal act and so why not release Ábrego García today?”
“And he said what President Bukele said the other day, at the White House, which is El Salvador can’t smuggle Ábrego García into the United States.”
He denied asking El Salvador to smuggle Ábrego García back
Van Hollen denied that he was asking El Salvador to smuggle Ábrego García back into the US, adding that he was “simply asking them to open the door” of the prison and let the “innocent man walk out.”
He said that the “Attorney General of the United States, Pam Bondi, has said that the US would send a plane to El Salvador to pick him up.”
Van Hollen accused Trump’s administration of not complying
The Senator accused Trump’s administration of not showing any evidence of complying with the US Supreme Court’s ruling to facilitate the innocent father’s return to the country.
He also claims that the US embassy in El Salvador has said “it’s received no direction from the Trump administration to help facilitate his release.”
Van Hollen said the administration was violating rules
“So the Trump administration is clearly in violation of American court orders,” Van Hollen said.
He added, “But that still leaves the question – why is the government of El Salvador continuing to imprison a man where they have no evidence he’s committed any crime and they’ve not been provided any evidence from the United States that he’s committed a crime.”
