Chris Van Hollen Meets With Abrego Garcia in El Salvador

Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Thursday night that he had met in San Salvador with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador last month has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate and prompted a standoff between the Trump administration and the courts.

Mr. Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shared a photo of the two men speaking on Thursday evening, hours after the senator had been denied entry to the prison where Mr. Abrego Garcia was being held.

The unexpected meeting took place at a hotel in San Salvador, according to photos shared by the senator’s office late Thursday. In the images, Mr. Abrego Garcia was dressed in plainclothes and sat for a conversation with Mr. Van Hollen. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said on social media that Mr. Abrego Garcia would remain in his country’s custody.

“Our purpose today was very straightforward,” Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview on Thursday, before the meeting with Mr. Abrego Garcia. “It was simply to be able to go see if Kilmar Abrego Garcia is doing OK. I mean, nobody has heard anything about his condition since he was illegally abducted from the United States. He is totally beyond reach.”

Mr. Van Hollen had initially been stopped by the Salvadoran military officials when he tried to visit Mr. Abrego Garcia, and described the encounter as a blockade intended to thwart his visit to the prison. Human rights advocates have documented overcrowding in El Salvador’s prisons and reports of torture.