USA TODAY in El Salvador: Van Hollen denied access to Abrego Garcia
USA TODAY reporter Will Carless reports from El Salvador where Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he was denied requests to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
TECOLUCA, El Salvador − A Democratic U.S. senator was turned away Thursday from a notorious prison where a Maryland father of three was wrongly being held, two days after GOP lawmakers toured the facility and posted photos from inside.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled here hoping to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal worker who was wrongly deported a month ago. Van Hollen has remained steadfast in his efforts to bring him home.
Also Thursday, a federal appeals court ruled the government could not continue to stall on the Supreme Court‘s order that it facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, saying he’s “entitled to due process.”
Van Hollen said his office, Abrego Garcia’s wife − who’s an American citizen − and the family’s lawyers have tried to contact the longtime Maryland resident at the prison and all attempts have failed.
“There’s been no ability to find out anything about his health and well-being,” Van Hollen said at a news conference. “And the U.S. embassy here has not been asked by the Trump administration to inquire about his health and well-being. And I should point out this inability to communicate with his lawyers is a violation of international law.”
Abrego Garcia, 29, is being held at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center − CECOT, which has been criticized for its harsh, dangerous conditions. Van Hollen said El Salvador Vice President Felix Ulloa refused to allow him to tour the prison or even speak to Abrego Garcia by phone on April 16. Undeterred, Van Hollen’s two-vehicle convoy rolled toward the prison the next day, only to be stopped at a military checkpoint.
Some U.S. lawmakers less sympathetic to Abrego Garcia’s cause, however, had no problem touring CECOT this week. Republicans Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia and Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri posted photos on social media from inside the prison on April 15.
“I just toured the CECOT prison in El Salvador. This maximum security facility houses the country’s most brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists,” Moore wrote. “Several inmates were extremely violent criminals recently deported from the U.S.
“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland.”
Smith was dismissive of Van Hollen’s efforts to free Abrego Garcia: “It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country.”
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down an effort Thursday by the Department of Justice to slow down the process of “facilitating” Abrego Garcia’s return, as the court’s three-judge panel unanimously declined to suspend the upcoming sworn testimony by Trump administration officials on the matter.
The panel wrote that unlike some complicated cases, the heart of this issue is simple, saying: “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is foundational to our constitutional order.”
The judges wrote that should be “shocking” to both judges and the “intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from the courthouse hold dear.”
By not intervening in the process, the panel said it would “not micromanage” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ attempt to implement the Supreme Court’s written orders on the matter.
“The government asserts that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13. Perhaps, but perhaps not,” they wrote. “Regardless, he is still entitled to due process.”
President Donald Trump sidestepped Thursday a question in the Oval Office about whether he would take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States and put him in front of a judge if a court holds him in contempt.
“Well, I’m not involved in it. I’m going to respond to that by saying you’ll have to speak to the lawyers, the DOJ,” Trump told reporters as he met with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. “I’ve heard many things about him. We’ll have to find out what the truth is.”
The president went on to defend his immigration policies, saying he was elected to expel migrants who have committed violent offenses. “And I don’t see how judges can take that authority away from a president,” Trump said.
U.S. officials contend Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, recently deemed a foreign terrorist organization. Their evidence relies on a confidential informant and clothing Garcia was wearing in a 2019 encounter with police.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland, who is handling the case, has questioned the strength of the government’s case. “Defendants have claimed – without any evidence – that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13,” Xinis wrote in an April 6 opinion.
− Francesca Chambers
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the deportation and appealed a court order to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S.
“If he ever ends up back inside the United States, he would immediately be deported again,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
Leavitt also raised a series of domestic violence allegations against Abrego Garcia from his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. Among them was a restraining order following a domestic dispute between the pair. According to the court order from 2021, Abrego “punched and scratched” Vasquez Sura, “ripped off shirt, grabbed and bruised her.”
Vasquez Sura told USA TODAY in a statement that she had acted out of caution after a disagreement in filing the temporary protective order, which was closed a month after she filed it, according to Prince George’s County records.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen stopped near CECOT after GOP gain access
Armed guards turned Sen. Chris Van Hollen away less than two miles from the notorious CECOT prison where Kilmar Abrego Garcia is wrongly being held.
Justice Department officials also released more documents tied to a 2019 encounter with Abrego Garcia that set off a chain of events culminating in his removal. Prince George’s County Police officers wrote they responded in March of that year to the Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, where they found four individuals loitering in the parking lot and detained them for questioning. Abrego Garcia was among them.
Police reported they arrested two individuals identified as active MS-13 members and found two small plastic bottles containing marijuana.
They said Abrego Garcia wore a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie with rolls of money “covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations” indicating his gang allegiance. The report also relies on a confidential informant who indicated Abrego Garcia was an active member of MS-13 with the moniker “Chele.”
USA TODAY asked the White House whether these two documents are the sum total evidence that Abrego Garcia belongs to a designated terrorist group.
Harrison Fields, White House deputy press secretary, responded by saying the question was “jaw dropping” and “is being a wife beater not enough? He was here illegally.”
Abrego Garcia’s mother, Cecilia, ran a pupusería eatery out of their home in San Salvador before he came to the United States. The business, Pupusería Cecilia, was targeted and extorted by the 18th Street gang, according to court filings.
The 18th Street gang, a rival of MS-13, pressured Abrego Garcia to join the gang, the documents say. Around 2011, the family sent Abrego Garcia, then a teenager, to the United State. He crossed illegally and arrived with his brother, Cesar, in Maryland, where Abrego Garcia has lived since.
In 2019, an immigration judge prohibited Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador after finding he would face persecution by gangs if he were deported to El Salvador.
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