Christal Hayes
BBC News, Los Angeles
Provided by US Sen Chris Van Hollen
Van Hollen (right) posted a photo from his meeting with Kilmer Abrego Garcia
The US senator met a man who admitted that Trump administration officials were mistakenly deported from Maryland to MegaPrison in El Salvador.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen posted a photo with Kilmal Abrego Garcia on Thursday as the administration continues to resist a return to the United States despite yet another court ruling against the government.
After a meeting that appeared to have been held at the hotel, El Salvador President Naive Bukere said detainees would remain in state custody.
The White House accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of the cross-border Salvadoran gangster MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organization his lawyers have denied.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social the morning after the meeting, Trump said, “I said yesterday that he looked like a fool standing in El Salvador.
The visit came amid an escalating showdown between the US president and the court over the litigation.
A federal court on Thursday opposed the Trump administration in a case that could force civil servants to testify under oath of their deportation.
In a harsh ruling, the Fourth Circuit called the administration’s handling of the situation “shocking.”
“The government asserts the right to hide the nation’s residents in foreign prisons without the similarity of the legitimate processes that underlie our constitutional order,” wrote Judge Harvey Wilkinson III, one of the panel’s three judges.
The government “essentially, there’s nothing that can be done,” Judge Wilkinson wrote.
“This should have to shock not only the judges but also the Americans with an intuitive sense of freedom that is far from injuries.”
Why did the judge write, “What was wrong, and not?”
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers are suing the US government for sending him to MegaPrison in El Salvador in March.
The Supreme Court ordered the US government to “promote” his return.
The photos shared by Van Hollen and Bukere are the first sights of Maryland residents since his deportation.
“I said the main goal of this trip was to meet up with Kilmer. I had that opportunity tonight,” the Democrat senator posted on social media.
“I called his wife Jennifer to share his message of love and look forward to providing a full update on my return.”
The video shows a suspect gang member who was banished by us in the El Salvador megajail
Before the meeting, the senator said Abrego Garcia was stopped by an armed guard on his way to CECOT, the largest security prison in which he was detained.
Van Hollen arrived in the country Wednesday hoping to secure the release of Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland.
The senator did not provide an update on Abrego Garcia’s status in social media posts, but said more information will be made public when he returns to the US.
Abrego Garcia’s wife congratulated the news and said her “prayer was answered.”
She said her family still had many questions and would continue to fight for his release.
Van Hollen said he had met the country’s vice president during his trip and the request he said he asked Abrego Garcia to open the door so that he could leave the prison was denied.
In X, President El Salvador’s president reposted a photo from Abrego Garcia’s Senators’ meeting and appeared to enjoy social media speculation that the inmate had died in custody.
President Buquere commented that Abrego Garcia “miraculously rose up from “death camp” and “torture” in “the tropical paradise of El Salvador.”
“Now he has been confirmed to be healthy, so he has earned the honor of staying in custody in El Salvador,” the president added.
The White House called the visit “aversion” and showed Democrats possess “illegal alien MS-13 terrorists,” but President Trump stands as law-abiding Americans.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers deny that he is a gang affiliation and claim that he has never been charged or convicted of a crime.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland, but on March 15, Salvadoran and Venezuelans were deported to the CECOT centre for El Salvador.
Maryland Judge Paula Sinis ruled that Ambrero Garcia’s removal from the country violated a 2019 court order that granted him legal protection from deportation.
Look: “I miss you,” says Salvador’s wife, who was mistakenly deported
Trump administration officials have admitted that deportation was a “administrative error,” but the White House argued that it was no mistake.
Republican presidential allies argue that deportation is good for his campaign promise to keep Americans safe.
They cited a restraining order filed by Abrego Garcia’s wife on May 5, 2021.
Ms Vazquez Sula told Newsweek Wednesday that she and her husband have overcome their difficulties, including counseling.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters during a briefing Wednesday: [Mr Ábrego García] I never live in the United States. ”
She was joined by the mother of Maryland woman Rachel Morin. Rachel Morin was murdered in August 2023 on suspicion of being a fugitive from El Salvador.
Watch: The White House says that a man who was accidentally deported to El Salvador will never live among us again
