Senator Van Hollen returns from El Salvador, says ‘Trump defying Supreme Court order’ in Abrego Garcia deportation case

Senator Chris Van Hollen said the wrongful deportation and imprisonment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia symbolises a broader assault on the US judicial system by the Trump administration. “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,” the Maryland Democrat told reporters upon his return from a three-day trip to El Salvador.

Van Hollen speaking at Washington Dulles International Airport, accused the White House of “blatantly, flagrantly” defying a US Supreme Court order that directed the administration to assist in Abrego Garcia’s return. “It’s very clear that the president, Trump administration, are blatantly, flagrantly disagreeing with, defying the order from the Supreme Court.”

Tears and uncertainty

Van Hollen was joined by Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, who wiped away tears as he relayed her husband’s emotional remarks about missing his family. The senator met Abrego Garcia on Thursday at a detention center in Santa Ana, El Salvador, where he had been moved from the feared CECOT mega-prison.

“He told me he was afraid while being held with 25 other inmates,” Van Hollen said. While he acknowledged the conditions were better at the new facility, he also noted that their conversation was closely monitored by Salvadoran officials.

Bipartisan battle over immigration and executive power

The Abrego Garcia case has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate. Democrats say President Donald Trump is violating the rule of law and undermining judicial authority. Republicans counter that Democrats are defending a man they claim is an MS-13 gang member — despite there being no criminal charges or evidence of gang affiliation.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Abrego Garcia “will never live in the United States of America again.” Trump said on Friday, “His prison record is unbelievably bad” and labeled him an “illegal alien” and a “foreign terrorist.”

Trump also mocked Van Hollen, posting on social media that the senator “looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention.”

Bukele stages photo op

Adding fuel to the fire, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted staged photos from the meeting between Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia, including drinks garnished to look like margaritas. “Neither of us drank them,” Van Hollen clarified, calling it a propaganda ploy.

Bukele added insult to injury, posting that Abrego Garcia “gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”

Courts push back

The legal fight continues. ICE admitted that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was due to an “administrative error.” Despite this, the Trump administration has refused to repatriate him. On Thursday, a three-judge panel from the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government’s request to block further legal action and ordered sworn testimony from administration officials.

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Reagan appointee, wrote in a stern rebuke: “The judiciary will be hurt by the constant intimations of its illegitimacy… [and] the executive branch will lose much from a public perception of its lawlessness.”