Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., got down to El Salvador this week to search out Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the person on the heart of an faulty deportation, and get solutions about his situation.
Whereas he was relieved to get an opportunity to satisfy the Abrego Garcia nose to nose on Thursday, the senator slammed El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and President Donald Trump for what he stated was a setup to defame him and the deportee.
Van Hollen stated Friday that what he referred to as “margarita-gate” was manufactured by Bukele and his officers after they posted a photograph of his assembly with Abrego Garcia at a desk with what seemed to be crammed margarita glasses.
On this photograph posted to the X account of Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, US Senator Chris Van Hollen holds a gathering with Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a US citizen wrongfully deported to his residence nation, at a resort in San Salvador on April 17, 2025.
@nayibbukele/X through AFP through Getty Photos
The senator stated these glasses had been placed on the desk partway throughout the assembly by El Salvador officers and that neither he nor the deportee touched the drinks.
“Every thing occurs as a result of Bukele says it may occur. And in case you have a look at the video you despatched out proper afterwards with the faux margaritas, you may see that each one of that was a setup,” Van Hollen informed reporters.
The senator poked holes within the story that was being unfold by Bukele’s and Trump’s allies and stated the complete assembly was suspect from the start.
After being denied entry to CECOT, the tremendous jail that the federal government initially stated was holding Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen stated he was able to fly again to the U.S. Thursday however bought a message that the deportee was out there to satisfy.
The El Salvador authorities tried to have the assembly poolside, however the senator stated he had them take it indoors in a eating space. In the course of the assembly, Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia had glasses of water and a espresso cup on their tables, which appeared in a photograph posted by the senator.
The senator stated that at one level throughout the hourlong assembly, officers put glasses on the desk that appeared to have liquid inside with salt or sugar rims on prime. Van Hollen stated he had no thought what the liquid was.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen meets Kilmar Abrego Garcia at a location given as El Salvador, on this picture launched April 17, 2025.
Senator Chris Van Hollen/X By way of Reuters
The glass in entrance of Abrego Garcia had much less liquid than the opposite glass, in accordance with Van Hollen.
“They tried to make it appear like, I assume, that he drank out of it,” the senator stated.
Van Hollen stated the insinuations concerning the margarita glasses do not maintain up beneath scrutiny.
On this photograph posted to the X account of Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, US Senator Chris Van Hollen holds a gathering with Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a US citizen wrongfully deported to his residence nation, at a resort in San Salvador on April 17, 2025.
@nayibbukele/X through AFP through Getty Photos
“They made a mistake,” he stated of the federal government officers. “If you happen to sip out of a kind of glasses, a few of no matter it was, salt or sugar, would disappear. You’d see a niche. There is not any hole. Nobody drank something.”
El Salvador’s authorities has not commented on the senator’s declare.
President Donald Trump meets with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele within the Oval Workplace on the White Home in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Trump was requested concerning the photograph of the conferences with the glasses earlier Friday and criticized Van Hollen as “faux” and repeated disputed claims that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 member.
“They’re all faux, and so they have little interest in that prisoner. That prisoner’s document is unbelievably unhealthy,” Trump stated earlier than itemizing crimes of which different MS-13 members have been convicted.
Not one of the allegations made about Abrego Garcia’s being a part of MS-13 have been made in court docket paperwork. Abrego Garcia’s household and attorneys have denied the gang allegations.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, accompanied by Cesar Abrego Garcia, from left, Cecilia Garcia and Jennifer Vasquez Sura, speaks throughout a information convention upon his arrival from assembly with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, at Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport, in Chantilly, Va., April 18, 2025.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Van Hollen careworn that Trump is attempting to divert consideration from the truth that the U.S. authorities will not be complying with the Supreme Court docket’s unanimous order that it facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. by citing gang violence.
“I imply, this can be a man who’s been in CECOT. This man has been detained. They wish to create this look that life was simply pretty for Kilmar, which, in fact, is an enormous fats lie,” he stated.
The senator added that the case goes past Abrego Garcia.
“This case will not be about only one man. It is about defending the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the USA of America,” he stated.
