Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Sunday following the Salvadoran national’s release from criminal custody, his office announced.
On Friday, Abrego Garcia, who is awaiting trial on human smuggling charges in Tennessee, was granted a release from custody by U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes. He has since returned to Maryland, where he previously lived with his family before his arrest and deportation to El Salvador earlier this year.
Now that Abrego Garcia is out of custody, Van Hollen, who was one of the first Democrats to decry the Salvadoran national’s deportation as an alleged violation of due process, is seizing on the case again.
Over the weekend, the Maryland senator held a virtual meeting with Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer Vazquez, the first time they have spoken since a separate meeting with him in El Salvador, one that was roundly mocked by the White House and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who claimed the two were “sipping margaritas.”
In a statement after the meeting, Van Hollen said the three discussed the case, as well as alleged efforts by the Trump administration to deny Abrego Garcia’s due process rights “at every turn,” including through a potential deportation to Uganda, which has set itself up as a third country for deportees concerned about their safety if sent to their home countries.
“Trump’s cronies keep lying about the facts in his case and they are engaged in a malicious abuse of power as they threaten to deport him to Uganda — to block his chance to defend himself against the new charges they brought,” his statement said.
That deportation could be coming soon, with a Department of Homeland Security official saying on Saturday that Abrego Garcia may be deported to Uganda “in no fewer than 72 hours, absent weekends.” He has also been instructed to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore on Monday.
The potential move would align with a court provision that only bars Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador due to safety concerns.
Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court also ruled in the Trump administration’s favor regarding third country deportations, greenlighting such removals like Abrego Garcia’s to Uganda.
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On top of the human smuggling charges brought by the Department of Justice, Abrego Garcia is accused of being a member of the violent gang MS-13, drug and firearms trafficking, and abusing his wife.
Still, supporters, like Van Hollen, have continuously painted Abrego Garcia as a family man and Maryland resident.