U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) speaks to the media during a visit to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in San Salvador, El Salvador, April 16, 2025.
Jose Cabezas | Reuters
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Sunday that his trip to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia was about “defending the rights of this man to due process,” and not about “defending the man.”
“The Trump administration has admitted in court that he was wrongfully detained and wrongfully deported,” the Maryland senator said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
“My mission and my purpose is to make sure that we uphold the rule of law, because if we take it away from him, we do jeopardize it for everybody else,” he added.
Van Hollen also warned on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that denying “the constitutional rights of this one man, … threatens the constitutional rights of everybody in America.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the senator said the Trump administration is “flouting the courts as we speak.”
When asked whether the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis, the Maryland senator said: “Yes, we are.”
Van Hollen’s Sunday show media blitz comes after he traveled to El Salvador this week to meet with Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported from Maryland.
In recounting his meeting with Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen described him as having “experienced trauma” from his imprisonment.
“He told me about the trauma he had been experiencing, both in terms of the abduction and the fact that he was originally sent to CECOT, which is this notorious prison,” Van Hollen said on “This Week.”
Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador came after its President Nayib Bukele said during a White House visit earlier this month that he would not return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
Hours later, the Trump administration told a federal judge that it lacked authority to compel El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling saying that the administration should “facilitate” his return.
