U.S. senator meets with man wrongly deported to El Salvador
CBC
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday he met Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man wrongly deported to El Salvador by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Maryland Democrat posted an image with Abrego Garcia on the social media platform X.
"I said my main goal of this trip [to El Salvador] was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return," Van Hollen wrote.
Upon arriving in El Salvador on Wednesday Van Hollen said authorities there had denied him access to Abrego Garcia, who has been held in a notorious prison for gang members.
Van Hollen arrived to meet with senior officials and advocate for Abrego Garcia's release, but was told by El Salvador's Vice President Felix Ulloa that he could not authorize a visit or a call with Abrego Garcia.
It was not immediately clear what changed that allowed the senator access.
Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send Abrego Garcia back, even as the Trump administration has called his deportation a mistake and the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return.
Trump officials have claimed that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who was living in Maryland, has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys say the U.S. government has provided no evidence of that and Abrego Garcia has never been charged with any crime related to such activity.
Van Hollen's trip has become a partisan flashpoint in the U.S. as Democrats have seized on Abrego Garcia's deportation as what they say is a cruel consequence of Trump's disregard for the courts. Republicans have criticized Democrats for defending him and argued that his deportation is part of a larger effort to reduce crime.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday allowed U.S. President Donald Trump to maintain his deployment of National Guard troops in Los Angeles amid protests over stepped-up immigration enforcement, temporarily pausing a lower court's ruling that had ordered control of the troops should be returned to the state.
Most days, Edwin Ciara positions himself on a median at the entrance to the Home Depot parking lot along Wilshire Avenue in Los Angeles and waits for a contractor who might give him a few hours of work.
Despite enormous criticism from abroad, Israel appears to believe its war strategy in Gaza is slowly working thanks in part to the efforts of the mysterious new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
As curfew takes effect in L.A., protestors — and the governor — say the military isn't needed at all
In the last minutes of daylight on Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles, a police helicopter circled overhead and warned a crowd of people along Temple Street they were gathered in an unlawful assembly and would be arrested if they did not leave.
Mohamed Hijazi squirms as his father unwraps a bandage for him. He cries and kicks his feet, but his dad manages to eventually place the bandage over his eye.
On an unseasonably chilly but sunny day, March 20, 1965, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson stood on the porch of his Texas ranch and read a telegram he had just sent to Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd.
U.S. President Donald Trump has authorized 2,000 California National Guard troops — despite the governor's objections — to the Los Angeles area, where protests on Saturday led to clashes between immigration authorities and demonstrators.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has "operated clans" in Gaza in a video published on social media Thursday after an opposition leader accused him of arming Palestinian militias in order to bolster opposition to Hamas.
At least 16 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza on Friday, according to local health authorities, as a U.S.- and Israeli-backed group said it had handed out aid in the enclave after earlier saying that its distribution sites were closed.
It's splitsville for a global power couple. Donald Trump and Elon Musk are tumbling into a messy public divorce, with unusual political fallout.
Israel's military recovered the bodies of two hostages, Canadian Israeli Judih Weinstein Haggai and her husband, Israeli American Gadi Haggai, who were held by Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
U.S. President Donald Trump resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term, announcing that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions.