Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) acknowledged his own Democratic Party‘s defeated stance in suggesting things could only improve.
The Republican Party currently holds the White House, the majority in the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Van Hollen could not deny the change in popularity Wednesday at an Axios’ News Shapers event when reporter Stephen Neukam asked him about it.
“We have only up to go. That’s good news. And so look, I think there are two things. One is, I think Americans, regardless of political party, want people who are going to fight for the things they believe in. I think they are tired of people who have sort of their fingers in the wind to try to figure out where to go,” Van Hollen said. “So my view is in addition to fighting, that we should have some alternative, and I’m working right now to present that kind of alternative.”
The Maryland senator has made President Donald Trump’s immigration policy the center of his criticisms lately. Earlier this month, Van Hollen went to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia outside of the country’s terrorism confinement center, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, referred to as the CECOT.
This visit prompted criticism as in his state, about the same time he left for El Salvador, Rachel Morin had her day in court posthumously when a jury convicted Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, an illegal immigrant, of her murder. Her mother, Patty Morin, claimed the senator hasn’t ever bothered to call her since the death of her daughter last year.
KAROLINE LEAVITT BLASTS SUPPORT FOR ABREGO GARCIA: ‘SHAME ON SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN’
While Abrego Garcia has since left the CECOT, Van Hollen continues to criticize the administration for not bringing him back. On Wednesday, he claimed, “It’s clear that the Trump administration continues to violate the Constitution and Abrego García’s due process rights.”
During the course of challenging his immigration status, Abrego Garcia met with 17 judges from the time he was arrested in 2019 until he was ultimately deported in March.