U.S. Senator Denied Meeting With Abrego Garcia In El Salvador | EUROtoday

El Salvador’s authorities denied Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) a go to with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man mistakenly deported to a infamous jail in El Salvador regardless of a Supreme Court opinion telling the Trump administration to facilitate his return to the United States.

Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday and met with the nation’s vp, Félix Ulloa, to request a gathering or a telephone name to verify on Abrego Garcia’s welfare. Ulloa turned him down.

“He said you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,” Van Hollen advised reporters after the assembly in San Salvador, referring to the utmost safety jail with a repute for torture. “I said I’m not interested in a tour, I just want to meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia. He said maybe if the American Embassy will ask, maybe that could happen.”

Ulloa additionally rejected Van Hollen’s request that Abrego Garcia be launched from jail, telling him the Trump administration was paying the federal government of El Salvador to maintain him there.

“He said El Salvador can’t smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia into the United States,” Van Hollen stated. He added: “And I said, I’m not asking him to smuggle Mr. Abrego Garcia in the United States. I’m simply asking him to open the door of CECOT.”

The Maryland Democrat accused the Trump administration and the federal government of El Salvador of mendacity about Abrego Garcia, who lived within the U.S. legally for 14 years and who has not been charged with any crimes.

“The Trump administration needs to obey the law, but I’m also asking … the president and VP of El Salvador not to keep a man who is illegally abducted from the United States and charged with no crime to remain in CECOT,” he stated.

Trump administration officers, in the meantime, stated Abrego Garcia was deported final month based mostly on a 2019 accusation from native police in Maryland that he was an MS-13 gang member. Abrego Garcia and his spouse have denied the allegation and stated he was misidentified.

The Justice Department beforehand stated Abrego Garcia was deported as a result of an “administrative error.” The profession DOJ legal professional who made the disclosure was later suspended by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Van Hollen stated he wouldn’t cease urgent for Abrego Garcia’s launch.

“The Trump administration is clearly in violation of American court orders,” he stated Wednesday.