Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant with alleged ties to a violent gang who was deported to El Salvador, had been transferred from the country’s notorious mega prison, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), days before U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., arrived in the country last week to push for his freedom.
Van Hollen told reporters after returning to the U.S. on Friday and again on Sunday that Abrego Garcia, 29, is no longer in CECOT, a claim that was filed in the government’s daily update, obtained by Fox News, and now confirmed in writing by the State Department.
The filing states, “Abrego Garcia told Sen. Van Hollen on April 17 that he had been transferred from CECOT to the detention facility ‘Centro Industrial’ in Santa Ana about eight days prior. Abrego Garcia told Sen. Van Hollen that he had been placed in the administrative building of Centro Industrial, in a room of his own with a bed and furniture, and that he was not in a cell.”
In an X post Sunday, Van Hollen called out President Donald Trump, writing, “When you defy court orders and deny one man his Constitutional rights, you threaten them for ALL.”
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“Trump can post all he wants, but a federal judge said there’s ‘no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or to any terrorist activity.’ Trump needs to put up or shut up IN COURT.”
Trump has argued that “radical, lunatic, Democrats” are portraying a false narrative of who Abrego Garcia really is.
“Radical Lunatic Democrats and their Comrades in the Fake News Media are falsely making Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia out to be a very sweet and innocent person, which is a total, blatant, and dangerous LIE,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
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Abrego Garica’s deportation has caused uproar among Democrats, many of whom have referred to him as a wrongfully deported “Maryland man.”
Last week, Van Hollen flew to El Salvador where Abrego Garcia was being held at CECOT, and was mocked by Trump for being a “fool.” Other Democrat lawmakers reportedly made plans to visit Abrego Garcia after Van Hollen’s announcement.
“Garcia has been found by two separate Courts to be a member of the violent, killer gang MS-13, was in our Country illegally, and is under a Deportation Order. It is despicable and unAmerican for Liberals and the Mainstream Media to hate our Country so much, and be obsessed with protecting criminals, instead of working to keep our Border, streets, and families safe. Those lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” — President Donald Trump
The White House has not held back in its criticisms of Van Hollen’s visit. On Friday, the White House posted side-by-side photos of Trump on X meeting with the mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2023, and Van Hollen sitting with Abrego Garcia with the caption: “We are not the same.”
Rachel Morin was a Maryland resident, as is her mother, Patty, who said Van Hollen had not reached out to her since her daughter was murdered.
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“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen, why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” she said.
Abrego Garcia was suspected of partaking in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) report obtained by Fox News. The report also stated that “official law enforcement investigations” revealed that Abrego Garcia was a member of the notorious gang MS-13, which Trump has designated as a terror organization.
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According to the report, on Dec. 1, 2022, a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper stopped Garcia after he was “observed speeding” and unable to stay in his lane. The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he began driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis, to “perform construction work.” The report states that the trooper suspected it was a human trafficking incident as there was no luggage in the vehicle. The individuals in the car reportedly also gave the same address as Abrego Garica’s home address.
When speaking with the trooper, Abrego Garcia allegedly “pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions.” After the incident, the officer decided not to give Abrego Garcia a citation for the driving infractions but rather to give him a warning for driving with an expired license.
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The HSI report also notes that in October 2019, the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit identified Abrego Garcia as a member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang.
Abrego Garcia was also recently revealed to have a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George’s County, Md., district court by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”
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The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador, if they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”
The Trump administration has continued to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT, despite many Democrats suggesting he was wrongly deported, even going as far as to say he was kidnapped by the administration.
Speaking with Fox News last week, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is “exactly where he belongs: home in El Salvador.”
“The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists,” she added. “He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”
Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
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