WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced that he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the Justice Department said it mistakenly deported.
“My hope is to visit Kilmar and check on his wellbeing and to hold constructive conversations with government officials around his release. We must urgently continue working to return Kilmar safely home to Maryland,” Van Hollen, D-Md., said in a statement Tuesday night, calling Abrego Garcia’s deportation “unlawful” and an “abduction.”
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Van Hollen plans to travel after he sent a letter to El Salvador's ambassador to the United States on Monday asking for a meeting with President Nayib Bukele, who said in a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump earlier that day that he “of course” would not send Abrego Garcia back to the country.
Several Democratic lawmakers have said this week that they are willing to travel to El Salvador to seek the man's release.
"We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador," progressive Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said on X, tagging Van Hollen. "Senator, I am willing to join you and help Organize other members of the House to do the same."
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., shared Frost's post, writing that she was "ready to join" her colleagues in traveling to El Salvador to demand Abrego Garcia's release.
Frost and Ansari have not announced plans to join Van Hollen on his trip. A spokesperson for Frost did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kaitlin Hooker, a spokesperson for Ansari, said in a statement Tuesday night that if a Democratic "delegation is created and approved by Chairman Comer and Speaker Johnson, Rep Ansari absolutely plans to attend."
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is chair of the House Oversight Committee, whose members include Frost and Ansari.
Comer's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night on whether he would approve such a delegation.
The push to return Abrego Garcia to the United States began after Justice Department officials acknowledged that he should not have been sent to El Salvador because of a 2019 order from an immigration judge, who barred him from being sent to the country because he might be subject to persecution. In a decision last week, the Supreme Court told the administration to "facilitate" his return.
President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox Noticias that aired Tuesday night that it was up to El Salvador’s government whether Abrego Garcia is returned to the United States.
Meanwhile, an official at the Department of Homeland Security said in a court filing Tuesday that the federal government could “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s entry into the United States — echoing the Supreme Court language — if he appeared at a port of entry. However, the official added, Abrego Garcia could run the risk of being removed a second time upon his return.
At a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, the judge presiding over Abrego Garcia’s case said she is weighing contempt proceedings against the Trump administration over its inaction to bring Abrego Garcia back.
Trump administration officials have argued that the situation is out of their hands now that Abrego Garcia is in the custody of another country. During his White House visit Monday, Bukele called the question of returning him "preposterous."
"How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States?" Bukele told reporters. "Of course I’m not going to do it."
The White House has shown no signs of pushing for Abrego Garcia's return, and Trump has repeatedly touted his push to deport alleged gang members to El Salvador, where they have been transferred to a notorious prison. The administration has also deported people using the rarely invoked Alien Enemies Act, though the matter is now tied up in court.
During Bukele’s White House visit, Trump also floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens, a move that immigration advocates and law experts panned, with one law professor calling the idea “pretty obviously illegal and unconstitutional.”
Van Hollen said after the White House meeting that he believes Bukele "will reconsider when he understands the full story of this illegal detention."
"I don’t think he wants to essentially be the president who’s kidnapped the United States citizen," he added.
Van Hollen told reporters Monday that the Salvadoran Embassy had received his request to meet Bukele but that he has not heard back.
