Kilmar Ábrego García, mistakenly deported from the U.S., was moved from CECOT to a detention center in Santa Ana, El Salvador, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on Friday.
The big picture: Ábrego García said he was traumatized at the Salvadoran megaprison.
- “He said he’s sad every day,” Van Hollen said at a news conference after returning from El Salvador. Ábrego García’s wife, mother and brother were present.
Context: Van Hollen met with on Ábrego García on Thursday after the senator spent days working to meet with him.
- The Trump administration has confirmed that he was mistakenly deported and has defied a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the U.S.
Zoom in: Ábrego García said his prison cell at CECOT had about 25 prisoners, and he was not afraid of them.
- He told Van Hollen he was fearful of prisoners in other cell blocks, who taunted him. Most cells were packed with about 100 people, Ábrego García estimated.
State of play: Van Hollen and Ábrego García met at the senator’s hotel. The Salvadoran government initially wanted to hold the meeting with the hotel’s pools in the background.
- The pair was surrounded by video cameras during the meeting, Van Hollen said.
- “The government of El Salvador is complicit in that illegal scheme,” Van Hollen said.
- Initially, Van Hollen’s requests to see or speak to Ábrego García, his constituent, were repeatedly denied.
- He decided to drive to CECOT with a lawyer for Ábrego García’s wife and mother, but they were stopped by soldiers who said they had orders not to allow him to go further.
Friction point: “Everybody asks those of us who are Democratic senators whether there’s any bottom line where Republican senators will say ‘enough is enough’ and won’t simply continue to be rubber stamps for the Trump administration,” Van Hollen said.
- “So far, we haven’t hit bottom in this case. We have what I believe is an outright defiance of the Supreme Court.”
Zoom out: CECOT has become the symbol of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, with several Republican lawmakers and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem touring the prison.
- Trump sent hundreds of Venezuelan migrants there with little or no due process.
The big picture: “This case is not just about one man,” Van Hollen said on Friday. “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United State of America.”
- He said the Trump administration is eliminating foundational constitutional premise of due order.
Go deeper: Timeline: The case of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more details from the press conference.
