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Lawmakers are pushing to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele while he’s in Washington amid broader efforts to secure the return of a Maryland man wrongfully deported to a prison in the Central American nation.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) sent a letter to El Salvador’s ambassador to the U.S. seeking to arrange a meeting with Bukele, floating plans to visit the prison directly if Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not shortly returned.
“Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now. However, since the Trump Administration appears to be ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
“If Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release.”
In a letter to Ambassador Milena Mayorga, Van Hollen pointed to a recent Supreme Court decision that “ruled unanimously that Mr. Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador.” He noted however that in court filings over the weekend, the Trump administration “did not detail steps that have been taken to facilitate his return.”
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has also sought to meet with Bukele while he is in Washington.
Espaillat and the caucus have separately called for Abrego Garcia’s release and have also suggested a trip to El Salvador to verify his well-being.
“Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will never stop the fight in the United States to secure his return,” he wrote. “I respectfully request that you release Mr. Abrego Garcia from his unlawful detention in CECOT and allow him the space to rejoin his family members in the U.S,” Espaillat wrote, referring to the prison in El Salvador.
“Additionally, given that his family has not heard from him in nearly 30 days and his well-being remains unknown, I am formally requesting an official visit to CECOT to speak with Mr. Abrego Garcia,” he added.
