Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) celebrated the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported and detained in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, calling it “a victory” for the rule of law.
The Trump administration doubled down on the deportation, accusing Abrego Garcia, who illegally immigrated to the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011 but was later protected from removal to his home country, of having gang ties. His legal team has denied these allegations and urged for his return to the U.S.
On Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi, after months of fighting against Abrego Garcia’s return in court, announced that he was transported back to U.S. soil to face criminal charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
“This is a victory for due process. It’s a victory for the Constitution. It should not have taken this long. I mean … the Trump administration dragged its feet for a very long time and ignored a 9 to 0 order from the Supreme Court,” Van Hollen said during a Friday appearance on MSNBC.
“But it’s important that Abrego Garcia now come home and have his due process rights upheld in a court of law,” he added.
The Maryland lawmaker visited Abrego Garcia while he was detained overseas to check on his well being and champion his release from El Salvadoran custody, which White House officials originally said would never happen.
Van Hollen on Friday said that the court battle Abrego Garcia will now face should have been launched prior to his removal.
“If they’re now going to take this case into the courts, as they should have, you know, from the beginning, before they just took him off the streets of Maryland and deposited him in a gulag in El Salvador, then that is — that is the due process that we’ve been fighting for,” he said.
“And, again, not just for his case, but for others. And — and I think that Americans understand that everybody deserves to have their rights, you know, respected. That’s what the Constitution is for.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorney said on Friday that the criminal case is just another attempt to persecute his client.
“This shows that they were playing games with the court all along. Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice,” attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg previously told The Hill in a statement.
“The government should put him on trial, yes—but in front of the same immigration judge who heard his case in 2019, which is the ordinary manner of doing things, ‘to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,’ as the Supreme Court ordered.”