U.S. senator meets with man wrongly deported to El Salvador

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.