Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) hit back at President Donald Trump’s administration Friday after the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Maryland father mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador — to U.S. soil.
Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia in April as the Trump administration refused to abide by a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the States, responded to a White House statement that asked him and others “who defended this illegal criminal abuser to immediately apologize” to the man’s “victims.”
“You know, I will never apologize for defending the Constitution,” he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who read part of the White House statement to Van Hollen.
“In fact, it’s the Trump administration and all his cronies who should apologize to the country for putting us through this unnecessary situation and to Abrego Garcia for putting him through this situation and his family,” Van Hollen added.
Abrego Garcia, per initial reports later confirmed by Attorney General Pam Bondi in a press conference, landed back in the U.S. to face federal criminal charges that accuse him of transporting unauthorized migrants into the country.
The move to charge Abrego Garcia reportedly led to the resignation of a top federal prosecutor in Tennessee, where the two-count indictment was filed in May and unsealed Friday.
In the lead-up to the charges, Trump officials repeatedly stressed that Garcia was “never” coming back from El Salvador, shifting the responsibility of facilitating such a move to that country.
They also pushed claims that Abrego Garcia is a “known member” of the MS-13 gang, allegations that his family and his attorneys have rejected.
Van Hollen said the federal prosecutor’s resignation “raises questions” about the move to charge Abrego Garcia, but the focus should be on his return, adding that it’s a “good news story” for due process rights in America.
“The Trump administration should respect the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. So really, it’s President Trump who should apologize to the country for violating his oath to the Constitution,” he said.
“I’m glad in this moment, they are finally, finally doing what the Supreme Court said but they continue, Anderson, to violate the Constitution in many, many other [deportation] cases.”