Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, suggested on Sunday that he’d be fine with Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation with the key condition that his “due process” rights were respected.
Newsweek has reached out to Van Hollen’s office for further comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
Van Hollen, along with many others, has been highly critical of the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia. The Democratic senator traveled to El Salvador, where the El Salvadoran national was deported, last week to meet directly with Abrego Garcia, who previously resided in Maryland with his wife and children.
Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 and accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has designated a foreign terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia denied being a member of the gang but two judges, in separate rulings, concluded that he was an MS-13 member, based on confidential information provided to the court. Nonetheless he was shielded from deportation to his homeland because he said that he would be targeted by MS-13’s gangland rivals.
Abrego Garcia was deported anyway to El Salvador after being arrested last month in what the Trump administration lawyers said was an “administrative error.” His family denies any ties to gangs and Abrego Garcia has no criminal record in the United States, although his wife accused him of domestic violence and obtained a restraining order against him. She now says they have been reconciled.
What To Know
In an interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Van Hollen was pressed over whether he’d be supportive of Abrego Garcia’s deportation if his due process rights were fully respected.
Host Dana Bash noted that Abrego Garcia had originally entered the U.S. illegally. “So, if he were to come back to the U.S., went through the proper legal process, got a deportation notice through due process, would you be OK with that?” she asked the Democratic senator.
“I’m for whatever gives him his due process rights. And it was his due process rights where an immigration judge back in 2019 said he should not be deported to El Salvador because that would actually put his life in risk from gang members like MS-13 or others,” Van Hollen said.
The senator added: “And the Trump administration did not appeal that immigration judge order to keep [him] in the United States. Because he’s here legally now, he has a work permit, he’s a sheet metal worker, he has a family, he has three kids, and so the reality is, I am fine with whatever result happens, so long as he is given his due process rights under the Constitution. And that is why we have a 9-0 opinion from the Supreme Court. That’s why we had a strong opinion from the Fourth Circuit.”
As Van Hollen noted, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on April 10 that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. But the administration has thus far refused to make efforts to bring him back. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the ruling, stating that Abrego Garcia will “never live in the United States of America again.”
Bash pressed Van Hollen further, reiterating her question: “You would be OK if he were at the end of this ultimately deported?”
“I’m OK with whatever the rule of law dictates,” he said. “But, right now, we have a lawless president. Now, let’s be clear. We have a lawless president who is ignoring the order of the Supreme Court of the United States to facilitate his return. That’s what’s going on right now.”
“That is a risk to all of us,” Van Hollen said.
What People Are Saying
Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered in 2023 by an undocumented El Salvadoran migrant, told Newsweek on Sunday: “Why would a lawmaker, one who helps write the laws he expects his constituents to abide by here in Maryland, advocate for one who has been proven over and over again to have violated those laws?”
President Donald Trump during a news conference at the White House on Friday: “You’re talking about Abrego Garcia—he is an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, and foreign terrorist. This comes from the State Department and very legitimate sources, I assume. I’m just giving you what they handed to me, but this is supposed to be certified stuff.”
Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote in a ruling from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: “The respect that courts must accord the Executive must be reciprocated by the Executive’s respect for the courts. This case presents a unique chance to vindicate that value—and to summon the best that is within us while there is still time.”
What Happens Next?
A legal battle over Abrego Garcia’s fate continues to play out in the courts. Whether he is ultimately returned to the U.S. remains to be seen, but even if he is, it is likely that he’d ultimately be deported to a third country.
More Democrats have said they will fly to El Salvador to push for his return, but the partisan pressure hasn’t yielded any results. Meanwhile, Trump administration critics will likely continue to raise concerns about respect for due process especially in the context of deportation cases moving forward.
Read the full article here
