Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) danced around a question about claims by the Trump administration that a deported Salvadoran national, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose removal from the U.S. has devolved into a high-profile legal battle, is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Van Hollen returned from El Salvador after meeting with Abrego Garcia on Friday and went on multiple networks Sunday morning discussing his endeavor. Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant, was deported to El Salvador last month, despite a “withholding order” preventing him from being deported to that specific country over fears he would be persecuted by a gang in that country.
Abrego Garcia still has a valid deportation order and did not have legal permission to remain in the U.S., per court filings. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the federal government. President Donald Trump has also shared materials allegedly proving Abrego Garcia’s membership in MS-13, including a picture of the tattoos on the immigrant’s knuckles.
When Van Hollen was asked on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday if he could “say with absolute certainty” that Abrego Garcia has never been a member of MS-13, the senator skirted the question and claimed Trump was trying to “change the subject” on the deported Salvadoran national.
BASH: “Can you say with absolute certainty that he is not, nor has he ever been a member of the MS-13 gang, and did you ask him point blank?”
VAN HOLLEN: “What Donald Trump is trying to do here is change the subject. The subject at hand is that he and his administration are… pic.twitter.com/QlXZZANLXf
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) April 20, 2025
“The subject at hand is that he and his administration are defying a court order to give Abrego Garcia his due process rights. They are trying to litigate on social media what they should be doing in the courts. They need to put up or shut up in the courts,” Van Hollen said.
He then pointed to the judge in the current deportation battle saying she had not been presented with evidence about Abrego Garcia’s alleged MS-13 ties. CNN’s Dana Bash responded by noting there “hasn’t been a court hearing for them to put forward evidence in the first place,” and asked Van Hollen if he had asked Abrego Garcia if he has ties to MS-13.
“I didn’t ask him that because I know what his answer is. What he told me was he was sad and traumatized that he was being imprisoned because he has committed no crimes,” Van Hollen said.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. and continue with his deportation case “as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
The Justice Department and a federal judge have sparred over the definition of what it means to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return. As the argument of facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return continue, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has repeatedly said he will not release Abrego Garcia from the country.
TRUMP CALLS VAN HOLLEN A ‘FOOL’ FOR MEETING WITH KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA
While on Fox News’s Fox News Sunday, Van Hollen was asked who paid for the trip, to which he responded it was an “officially cleared congressional trip” and confirmed it was funded with taxpayer dollars.
Other members of Congress have looked to follow Van Hollen’s lead in going to El Salvador to petition on the Salvadoran nationals’ behalf. Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR) said on Friday she plans to visit El Salvador to demand the release of Abrego Garcia.
