President Donald Trump accused Sen. Chris Van Hollen of political grandstanding after the Maryland Democrat managed to meet this week with an immigrant who had made a life in his state before being wrongfully deported to El Salvador last month.
The case sparked fresh fears that the Trump administration is not particularly interested in respecting the rule of law in the United States.
The president wrote on his social media platform that the senator “looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone.”
He threw in an insult: “GRANDSTANDER!!!”
Trump also lashed out at the immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying he was “not a very innocent guy” on Friday while speaking to reporters.
Abrego Garcia was accidentally swept up as the Trump administration flew the first groups of immigrants to a Salvadoran megaprison called CECOT, which has a reputation for human rights abuses.
He had not been seen or heard from until Van Hollen shared a photo of himself sitting and speaking with Abrego Garcia on Thursday. The photograph prompted a reply from El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who mocked concerns about Abrego Garcia’s well-being.
Abrego Garcia appeared dressed neatly in a short-sleeved plaid button-down, jeans and a hat that likely masked the buzz cut all prisoners are given upon entry to CECOT. In the prison, the men are given a plain uniform and not allowed outdoors. Cells in the 40,000-capacity facility can hold up to 70 people.
The White House also mocked Van Hollen’s trip on X, formerly Twitter, marking up a New York Times headline to label Abrego Garcia an “MS-13 illegal alien” who is “never coming back.”
Van Hollen was initially rebuffed by Salvadoran officials when he arrived in the country Wednesday asking to meet with Abrego Garcia, a father from El Salvador who is married to a U.S. citizen and was living in Maryland.
The senator said he would share more information about the meeting upon his return to the U.S. on Friday.
Abrego Garcia had been granted a special protective order by a federal judge in 2019 preventing his deportation to El Salvador out of fear of persecution. While immigration officials offered thin evidence that he was a member of MS-13, he argued that he would be targeted by violent gangs if he returned to his country of origin.
The right-leaning U.S. Supreme Court agreed that the Trump administration had to “facilitate” the immigrant’s return, although the case has been sent back to a lower court for further proceedings.
At a press conference given before he was allowed to see Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen said he came to El Salvador “to vouch for the judicial system of the United States, which guarantees individuals the right to due process.”
“We need to make sure that the court system works and due process works, because if you take it away for any individual, it’s a very short road to taking it away for everyone in America,” Van Hollen said.
“I should point out that this inability to communicate with his lawyers is a violation of international law. El Salvador is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” he added, referencing the United Nations treaty.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, told “Good Morning America” on Friday that it has been “overwhelming” to know her husband is alive.
“The most important thing for me, my children, his mom, his brother, his sibling, was to see him alive, and we saw him alive,” she said on air.
Speaking to reporters from the White House, Trump on Friday read excerpts from a statement Vasquez Sura gave to police as she sought a protective order from her husband in 2021 for domestic violence. Vasquez Sura has been vocal in her support for Abrego Garcia, and said in a statement to ABC News that her family had worked out the conflict privately.