Dem lawmaker to head to El Salvador to demand release of deported Maryland MS-13 gang member

"I saw the comments of President Bukele, and I look forward to meeting with him. I’ve requested to meet with him. I reached out to the ambassador here to ask to meet while he’s here," Van Hollen told reporters.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was at the Oval Office on Monday, during which he said he would not be sending Abrego Garcia back to the US after the Trump administration told a judge that the return of Abrego Garcia was up to El Salvador, not the US.

"But I’ve also made clear if we can’t meet here, I do intend to go to El Salvador to discuss the release of this individual who is illegally detained," Van Hollen continued. "A Maryland man who’s the father of three, in a notorious prison in El Salvador." He said he believes Bukele "will recognize why it’s important to allow him to return to the US," because it is "absolutely unjust and illegal to have this Marylander detained one more day in a notorious prison in El Salvador."

He said that Trump could have brought Abrego Garcia home, but "this is an administration that has lied about Mr. Abrego Garcia. The Vice President of the United States tweeted out that he had a criminal record. That was a lie. They’re just lying. They’ve gotten caught lying, they just don’t want to admit it, and they have an obligation to bring him home."

He said that Bukele should not "take it upon himself to say that he is detaining him for one more day, because that is kidnapping. I understand that the attorney general said that we would provide a plane to bring him home. So all the president of El Salvador has to do now is hand over and release an innocent man and let him come home to his family."

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia Mclaughlin told Fox News that Abrego Garcia was in the country illegally, saying, "I think this illegal alien is exactly where he belongs—home in El Salvador. He was in our country illegally, he is from El Salvador, was born in El Salvador, and, oh, the media forgot to mention: He is a MS-13 gang member. The media would love for you to believe that this is a media darling, that he is just a Maryland father. Osama Bin Laden was also a father, and yet, he was not a good guy, and they actually are both terrorists. He should be in this El Salvador prison, a prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there."