Senator Departs for El Salvador on Mission for Wrongly Imprisoned Man
Democrat seeks to aid Kilmar Abrego Garcia, where Trump will not
The senior senator from Maryland departed the United States Wednesday on his mission to El Salvador to free his constituent who the Trump administration admits was sent in error to one of the most brutal prisons on Earth.
Democratic Sen Chris Van Hollen posted to social media Wednesday morning that he was about to board his flight to El Salvador, where he has asked to meet with that nation’s president and to check on the condition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
A citizen of El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was a legal resident of the United States and was given protected status by a US judge in 2019 when he was pulled off the street near his home in the suburbs outside of Washington DC by federal agents and sent illegally to to an indefinite detention at El Salvador’s cruel Terrorism Detention Center, or CECOT, which has been dubbed a “black hole of human rights” that does not adhere to Red Cross international standards for prisoner treatment.
Although Trump administration officials admit that Abrego Garcia was wrongly sent to El Salvador, both Donald Trump and President Nayib Bukele, of El Salvador, have said they refuse to take steps to ensure his return.
This, despite a ruling from the US Supreme Court ordering that the Trump administration ensure that Abrego Garcia is returned.
With no other action taken on behalf of his constituent, Van Hollen took it upon himself to travel to El Salvador.
“I’m here at the airport. I am about to board my flight for San Salvador. The goal of this mission is let Trump administration — to let the government of El Salvador — know that we are going keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home until he returns his family,” the senator said. “I hope meet with representatives of the government and have a chance actually see Kilmar and what his condition is, but we are going to keep fighting because this was a miscarriage of justice.
“The Supreme Court has ruled 9 to 0 that he was illegally taken out of the country and put in a prison In El Salvador,” he added. And this is about due process. This is about the rule of law. What bullies do Is they begin by picking on Most vulnerable But if It’s a short road from there to tyranny.
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