United States: Senator Chris Van Hollen from the U.S. Democratic Party reported on Wednesday that El Salvador authorities blocked his attempts to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was unfairly removed from the U.S. and kept in that nation’s famous prison system, as reported by Reuters.
During his Wednesday visit to El Salvador, Senator Chris Van Hollen asked senior officials to meet about Abrego Garcia’s release, but Vice President Felix Ulloa refused permission to visit the prisoner or speak with him.
U.S. Funding Allegedly Supports Detention
During their meeting Ulloa informed Van Hollen through their conversation that El Salvador had refused to release Abrego Garcia because the U.S. was funding his incarceration.
“Why should the government of the United States pay the government of El Salvador to lock up a man who was illegally abducted from the United States and committed no crime?” said Van Hollen, a senator from Maryland, where Abrego Garcia lived.
El Salvador refused to comment on the visit made by U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen.
White House Fires Back
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt the Democratic senator may have used tax funds to compel the release of an illegal alien MS-13 terrorist who was deported.
“It’s appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their constituents and our citizens,” she told reporters.
The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to help Abrego Garcia return home because Washington admitted to making a mistake by deporting him.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele informed President Donald Trump during their White House meeting on Monday that the country would not send Abrego Garcia back. Homeland Security declared it lacked legal power to transport the Salvadoran man back to U.S. soil.
Disputed Deportation and Legal Battle
Abrego Garcia, 26, migrated to the U.S. at 16 years old to evade violence associated with El Salvadorian gangs according to information provided by his lawyers. The court approved a protective status in 2019 that allowed Abrego Garcia to stay in America although records reveal no criminal charges or convictions against him.
Allegations of Human Rights Violations
The Justice Department faces opposition from his attorneys over its assertion that he belongs to an MS-13 criminal gang.
The Trump administration has removed hundreds of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 from El Salvador after stating these individuals belong to criminal gangs yet providing no proof and administering no trial against them alongside Abrego Garcia, as reported by Reuters.
According to legal statements, the men detained at the prison are completely cut off from contact, including legal representation as well as outside world communication since their imprisonment. The governments also failed to disclose the identities of the detainees to the public.