BBC News, Los Angeles
Provided by US Sen Chris Van HollenA US senator has met a man who Trump administration officials have acknowledged was deported in error from Maryland to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen posted photos of his meeting with Kilmar Ábrego García, whom the administration has refused to return to the US despite an order from a federal judge.
After the meeting, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also refused to release Mr Ábrego García and said he would remain in the country’s custody.
The White House has accused Mr Ábrego García of being a member of the transnational Salvadoran gang MS-13, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, which his lawyer denies.
Thursday’s meeting came amid an escalating showdown between the US president and the courts on immigration, a day after a judge in another case said the administration could be held in contempt of court over deportation flights.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” the Democratic senator posted on social media.
“I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
The White House called the visit “disgusting”.
“Chris Van Hollen has firmly established Democrats as the party whose top priority is the welfare of an illegal alien MS-13 terrorist,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
“It is truly disgusting. President Trump will continue to stand on the side of law-abiding Americans.”
Before the meeting, the senator said he was stopped earlier in the day by armed guards on his way to Cecot, the maximum-security prison where Mr Ábrego García has been detained.
Van Hollen arrived in the country on Wednesday hoping to secure the release of Mr Ábrego García, who had been living in Maryland.
The senator did not offer an update on Mr Ábrego García’s status in his social media posts, but said more information would be released upon his return to the US.
Mr Ábrego García’s wife celebrated the news and said her “prayers have been answered”.
“The efforts of my family and community in fighting for justice are being heard, because I now know that my husband is alive,” Jennifer Vasquez Sura said. “God is listening, and the community is standing strong.”
She said her family still has many questions and will continue fighting for his release.
During his trip, Van Hollen said he also met with the country’s vice-president and asked that they open the doors so Mr Ábrego García could leave the prison, a request he says was rejected.
On X, El Salvador’s president reposted photos of the senator meeting Mr Ábrego García and appeared to poke fun at social media speculation that the inmate had died in custody.
President Bukele commented that Mr Ábrego García had “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture'” in the “tropical paradise of El Salvador”.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” the president added.
Mr Ábrego García was living in Maryland, before he was deported on 15 March with scores of Salvadorans and Venezuelans to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot) in El Salvador.
Maryland Judge Paula Xinis ruled that Mr Ábrego García’s removal from the country breached a 2019 court order that had granted him legal protection from deportation.
The US Supreme Court last week partially upheld the lower court ruling, finding that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Mr Ábrego García’s release.
The administration was ordered to give daily updates on these efforts.
Trump administration officials have conceded the deportation was an “administrative error”, although the White House insists there was no mistake.
The Republican president’s allies have argued the deportation is making good on his campaign promise to keep Americans safe.
They have cited a restraining order filed by Mr Ábrego García’s wife on 5 May 2021, in which she alleged four instances of domestic violence against her by him.
Ms Vasquez Sura told Newsweek on Wednesday that she and her husband had worked through their difficulties, including by counselling.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday: “He [Mr Ábrego García] will never live in the United States of America.”
She was joined by the mother of a Maryland woman, Rachel Morin, who was murdered in August 2023 by an alleged fugitive from El Salvador, in a separate case.
