President Donald Trump lashed out on Friday at Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland after the Democratic lawmaker traveled to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported last month under disputed circumstances.
In a fiery post on his Truth Social platform, Trump mocked the senator as a publicity seeker and dismissed the visit as political theater.
"Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone," Trump wrote. "GRANDSTANDER."
Van Hollen had traveled to El Salvador earlier in the week to meet with Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March despite a 2019 federal court order that had granted him legal protection from removal.
The deportation has since sparked a political and legal firestorm after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 10 that the government must take action to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States.
Trump and his administration have openly rejected the ruling’s implications, continuing to assert that Abrego Garcia is a dangerous individual with alleged ties to the transnational gang MS-13.
These accusations have not been supported by any public court documents, and Abrego Garcia’s legal team and family maintain that he has never been involved in any criminal activity.
While Van Hollen was denied access to CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador where Abrego Garcia was initially sent, he confirmed on Thursday that he had successfully met with Abrego Garcia at an undisclosed location elsewhere in the country.
Van Hollen described the meeting as emotional and urgent, noting that Abrego Garcia’s health and mental well-being were deteriorating under detention. Photos of the senator and Abrego Garcia appeared online shortly after the meeting and were soon picked up by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who reposted the images on social media and offered his own sarcastic take.
"He has miraculously risen from the 'death camps' and 'torture,' and was now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador," Bukele wrote. He followed up by stating that Abrego Garcia would not be released and would remain in Salvadoran custody until further notice.
The mocking tone drew anger from immigrant rights groups and human rights observers, who argue that the conditions at CECOT are anything but tropical. Multiple international organizations have condemned the prison, citing reports of overcrowding, abuse, and lack of access to legal representation for detainees.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has doubled down on its refusal to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, despite the unanimous Supreme Court decision. White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai issued a statement attacking Van Hollen directly and accusing him of prioritizing undocumented individuals over American citizens.
"Chris Van Hollen has firmly established Democrats as the party whose top priority is the welfare of an illegal alien MS-13 terrorist," Desai said. "The President stands by our strong immigration enforcement policies and will not cave to political pressure."
Abrego Garcia, who lived in Maryland for more than a decade and was granted protected status due to fears of political persecution in El Salvador, had built a life in the U.S. with his wife and three children.
According to his attorneys, he was deported in error after a bureaucratic misstep within the Department of Homeland Security led to the execution of a removal order that had previously been nullified by a federal court.
The Supreme Court ruling earlier this month acknowledged that mistake and directed the administration to take "all necessary steps" to correct it. However, no movement has been made by the executive branch to comply with the court’s instruction, and Trump has made clear that he views the case as a challenge to his authority on immigration policy.
Van Hollen, who has been one of the most vocal defenders of Abrego Garcia since the deportation, responded to Trump’s criticism in a statement released Friday afternoon.
"I went to El Salvador to meet with an American family’s loved one who was wrongly deported in violation of a federal court order," Van Hollen said. "This is about upholding the rule of law and defending human rights. I will not be intimidated by name-calling or political attacks."
The senator also accused the Trump administration of politicizing immigration enforcement at the expense of constitutional order and judicial independence.
"When the Supreme Court issues a unanimous decision, the President is obligated to follow it," Van Hollen said. "This refusal to act is not just illegal — it is immoral."
While some Democrats have rallied behind Van Hollen, others have been more cautious, wary of drawing too much attention to a case that Republicans have used to criticize the party’s broader approach to immigration.
Still, several human rights groups, legal experts, and immigration advocates have expressed concern over the precedent being set by the administration’s refusal to implement a clear court ruling.
"This is about more than one man," said Erica Johnson, a legal analyst who specializes in immigration law. "If the executive branch can simply ignore a Supreme Court order, it threatens the entire framework of checks and balances in our government."
Johnson pointed out that the case of Abrego Garcia could have ramifications far beyond immigration policy. "This is about whether court decisions carry any weight when they conflict with the President’s personal agenda."
The case has also fueled renewed debates around the use of federal detention centers and partnerships with foreign governments that lack transparency in their handling of deported individuals. Critics say that agreements between U.S. agencies and the Salvadoran government have created a loophole where deported individuals are placed in high-security prisons without due process or clear evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Abrego Garcia’s legal team continues to insist that he is not affiliated with any criminal organization and that the accusations against him are based on a single unverified tip. They argue that he has no criminal record in the U.S. and that the only evidence presented to suggest gang ties consists of a series of tattoos that are not linked to any known gang markings.
"The government has yet to produce any credible evidence that my client is a threat," said Michael Everett, Abrego Garcia’s attorney. "We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for compliance with the law and a correction of what the Supreme Court has now clearly stated was a wrongful act."
While legal efforts to bring Abrego Garcia home continue, the political fallout is expanding. Republican leaders have seized on the case to paint Democrats as soft on crime and immigration.
Democratic leaders, meanwhile, are increasingly frustrated with what they see as the White House’s disregard for judicial authority and due process. As of now, no timeline has been given for any action by the Department of Homeland Security or the State Department to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Requests for comment from DHS officials have gone unanswered.
Van Hollen, undeterred by the criticism, has pledged to keep pressing for Abrego Garcia’s return. He said he plans to introduce legislation next week that would require the executive branch to report to Congress on efforts to comply with immigration-related court rulings.
"I will not stop until Mr. Abrego Garcia is reunited with his family in Maryland," Van Hollen said. "This is not about politics. This is about justice."
Whether that justice will be delivered remains uncertain. But one thing is clear — the case has become a flashpoint in the broader battle over immigration, executive power, and the rule of law in Trump’s second term. And with both sides digging in, the outcome could set a lasting precedent for how America handles the rights of those caught between its borders and its political agendas.
