US senator blocked from meeting deportee at El Salvadorian prison
BOGOTA, Colombia
Maryland’s Democratic US Sen. Chris Van Hollen reported that the government of El Salvador denied his request to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported by the Trump administration to the Central American country last month, despite a court order prohibiting his deportation.
Van Hollen traveled Wednesday to El Salvador to meet Abrego Garcia at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), the mega-prison where he is detained.
The senator, who has expressed concern about the Trump administration’s refusal to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, was denied access by Vice President Felix Ulloa.
Van Hollen said he was told he needed “to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,” and told Ulloa that he was “not interested in a tour of CECOT, I just want to meet with Abrego Garcia.”
He said he told the vice president he would return next week to visit Abrego Garcia, but Ulloa said that “he couldn’t promise that either.”
The vice president said he could not arrange for Abrego Garcia’s family to speak to him by phone. When the senator asked if he could do it, Ulloa told him that the US Embassy must make the request, Van Hollen said.
The visit followed El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele’s refusal during a Monday meeting at the White House to take steps to return Abrego Garcia to the US.
Trump administration officials have acknowledged they made a mistake by deporting Abrego Garcia but the White House has asserted that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, an allegation he and his wife have denied.
“We have an unjust situation here. The Trump administration is lying about Abrego Garcia,” said Van Hollen, who said the US and El Salvador governments have no evidence that Abrego Garcia is part of MS-13 or has committed a crime.
Abrego Garcia had resided in the US for more than 10 years after fleeing El Salvador due to threats of violence and persecution. In a previous case, an immigration court order prevented his deportation to El Salvador due to fear of threats from local gangs.
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