Democrat blocked from meeting with wrongly deported man in El Salvador

After arriving in El Salvador Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland was denied his request to speak with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador and is currently being kept in the notoriously violent prison, CECOT.

Van Hollen, who made the trip to El Salvador with a delegation of Democratic lawmakers, told reporters that he was unable to speak with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele but did speak with Vice President Félix Ulloa. During their conversation, Van Hollen asked for clarification as to why Garcia, a legal resident of Maryland, remained in CECOT despite having no charges filed against him. 

“His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT,” Van Hollen said.

Garcia, a father who is married to a U.S. citizen and has work documentation from the Department of Health and Human Services, was erroneously detained and illegally deported by the Trump administration in March. 

Despite the error, both President Donald Trump and Bukele have refused to facilitate Garcia’s court-ordered release, fallaciously characterizing him as a “terrorist.”

And while Van Hollen is getting the runaround from the Salvadoran government, Republican Reps. Riley Moore of West Virginia and Jason Smith of Missouri have been touring CECOT, boasting about it in disturbingly enthusiastic social media posts. 

CECOT, by the Holocaust Museum’s definition, is a concentration camp.

Evil influencer Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem initiated this torture tourism trend with her CECOT visit last month, making videos in front of dozens of immigrants stuffed into overcrowded prison cells. 

Meanwhile, Van Hollen says that, while Ulloa could not arrange a direct phone call with Garcia, he suggested that the U.S. embassy could perhaps make the request. 

“I don’t know about his health status—that’s why I wanted to meet with him directly,” Van Hollen told reporters.

GOP lawmakers appear focused on capitalizing on this disturbing spectacle, while Democrats seem to be the only ones trying to address the wrongful detention of a legal U.S. resident.

And if Trump’s own words are a sign of what’s to come, U.S. citizens might be next.

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