Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said on Thursday that soldiers blocked his attempt to visit an illegal immigrant deported from the United States who is being held at a mega prison in El Salvador.
After announcing on Wednesday that El Salvador’s government rejected his request to check on Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen tried driving to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to see the prisoner anyway. That did not work out, as Van Hollen explained in a video posted to X. He showed footage of himself and Chris Newman, the attorney for Abrego Garcia’s wife and mother, talking to soldiers at a military checkpoint.
We were just denied entry into CECOT — the notorious prison in El Salvador where Mr. Abrego Garcia is being illegally held.
We were there for one simple reason: to check on his well-being, which his family and lawyers have not been allowed to do. We won’t stop fighting. pic.twitter.com/yG2b7N6Nvn
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 17, 2025
“These soldiers were ordered to prevent us from going any farther from this spot,” Van Hollen said in the video. “I understand we’re about 3 kilometers now from CECOT, and as you can see, they’re letting other cars go by, but they stopped us because they’re under orders not to allow us to proceed to check on the well-being of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”
Will Carless, a USA Today national correspondent who said he was in the same convoy as Van Hollen, affirmed the senator’s account.
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old man from El Salvador who entered the United States unlawfully, but got permission from a judge to stay in 2019, had been living in Maryland when he was detained and deported last month as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration.
This particular deportation has become the subject of a high-profile legal fight, which remains ongoing after the Supreme Court issued a ruling last week that said the government must “facilitate,” but not necessarily “effectuate,” Abrego Garcia’s return.
Although the government said in court the deportation was an “administrative error,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller later dismissed the claim, pinning it on a “saboteur” within the Justice Department.
The Trump administration also has accused Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which has been designated as a foreign terror organization. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have reportedly denied that their client is part of the gang, but the government has publicly released documents to substantiate the affiliation.
More revelations have been made concerning Abrego Garcia as his case drew national attention. A newly uncovered restraining order shows Abrego Garcia was accused of beating his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who now says they worked through the incident.
Van Hollen travelled to El Salvador earlier this week, calling Abrego Garcia a “constituent” who endured an “abduction and unlawful deportation,” and told reporters on Wednesday that he met with El Salvador Vice President Félix Ulloa to discuss securing the man’s release.
During a White House meeting with President Donald Trump, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele declared that he would not send Garcia back to the United States. “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said, adding, “I don’t have the power to return him.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Van Hollen and other Democrats who have rallied in support of Abrego Garcia during press briefing on Wednesday alongside Patty Morin, whose daughter, Rachel, 37, was raped and murdered in Maryland two years ago by another illegal immigrant from El Salvador.
“It’s appalling and sad that Senator Van Hollen and the Democrats applauding his trip to El Salvador today are incapable of having any shred of common sense or empathy for their own constituents and our citizens,” Leavitt said.
