A Maryland senator’s efforts to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deportee from El Salvador, have sparked a heated debate with local law enforcement and victims’ families.
“Bring Kilmar home. So he can be afforded his rights under the Constitution. That’s what this is about,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Van Hollen recently traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia.
However, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler criticized the senator’s actions, calling them “grandstanding” and “ridiculous.”
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Gahler expressed concerns about the potential misuse of taxpayer dollars.
“If we want to keep wasting taxpayer dollars, I’ll go to El Salvador and ask them to send him to another country and we just don’t want him back here in the United States,” said Gahler.
Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland, reportedly met with the senator while wearing regular clothes and a Super Bowl hat, despite being in an El Salvadorian prison. Sheriff Gahler dismissed the meeting as optics, alleging that Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.
“We’re cuddling an individual who, if not an MS13, he has MS13 ties. More than just the clothing, there’s information out there. That’s who we seek to cuddle and look out for,” Gahler said.
Documents obtained by FOX45 reveal allegations of Abrego Garcia’s gang affiliations and crimes committed in Maryland, as well as a questionable stop in Tennessee.
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Sheriff Gahler has previously dealt with illegal immigrants from El Salvador, including Victor Martinez-Hernandez, found guilty in 2023 of murdering Rachel Morin, and Walter Martinez, guilty in 2022 of murdering Kayla Hamilton.
The mothers of the victims criticized the senator’s trip.
Tammy Nobles was the mother of Kayla Hamilton.
“I never heard anything from him. No condolences or anything about Kayla,”Nobles said.
While Patty Morin, who has been very vocal since her daughter’s murder, did not hold back.
“And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge or barely acknowledged my daughter. So that he could use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that is not even an American citizen,” said Patty Morin.
“They want to make this the hero. This is not an individual that is here to make our country a better place,” Gahler said.
