Judiciary
US senator meets in El Salvador with a deported man
Updated on April 18, 2025 – 5:01 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
In protest against the controversial deportation of a migrant, a democratic senator travels to Central America and is allowed to meet the deported. President Bukele mocks: You drank Margaritas.
US Senator Chris Van Hollen met in El Salvador with a migrant deported by the United States despite the protection granted. The Democrat published a photo of the meeting with Kilmar Ábrego García on the platform X. The Salvadorian was deported from the USA a month ago and was taken to a notorious high -security prison in the Central American country. His fate is the subject of a legal discussion in the United States.
Van Hollen had personally traveled to the authoritarian governed El Salvador to work to return to the USA for the return of Ábrego. “I had said my main goal on this trip was to meet Kilmar. Tonight I had the opportunity to do so,” the Senator wrote. Where the meeting took place is unclear. The photo shows the two men in a room that looks like a restaurant. Cups and water glasses can be seen on the table. The Salvadorian does not wear prisoner uniform, but civilian clothing. The Senator wrote that he called Ábrego’s wife to issue a message and would later report in detail about the trip in the United States.
After the meeting, US President Donald Trump described Van Hollen as “Trottel” and “Important”, who wanted to “beg” in El Salvador for the attention of “fake news”. Trump’s government is currently increasingly in trouble because courts consider the deportation of the man to be unlawful. A federal judge ordered the Trump government to bring the man back. In the meantime, the case ended up in front of the US Supreme Court – since then it has been legally wrested. Critics such as Van Hollen accuse the government of overlapping judicial orders.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, meanwhile, commented on the meeting ironically on X: “Kilmar Ábrego García, miraculously advanced from” death camps “&” torture “, now sips Margaritas with Senator van Hollen in the tropical paradise El Salvador!”, He wrote in English. In another post, he added: “After it was confirmed that he is healthy, he will have the honor to stay in the care of El Salvador”. Bukele published three more photos of the meeting.
Since the man was deported, his family had not been able to contact him. The 29-year-old originally comes from El Salvador and, according to the US media, had entered the United States on the run from gang violence in 2012. Although his asylum application was rejected in 2019, he received abdominal protection – with reference to impending political persecution.
Nevertheless, Ábrego García was arrested and deported in the state of Maryland in mid -March, which Van Hollen represents in the Senate. The US government initially spoke of an “administrative mistake”, but at the same time confirmed the accusation that he was a member of the notorious gang MS-13. Ábrego García and his lawyers deny that.
