April 17 (UPI) -- Sen. Chris Van Hollen met with wrongly deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador on Thursday, a day after he was denied visiting his constituent, who is being held at a maximum security El Salvadoran prison.
The Maryland Democrat shared a picture of himself sitting with Abrego Garcia on X on Thursday night.
"I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar," he wrote in a caption to the picture. "Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love."
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in hopes of visiting the jailed Abrego Garcia and securing his release, but was prevented by Salvadoran soldiers from nearing the prison -- despite several Republicans having toured the facility on multiple occasions recently.
Earlier Thursday, Van Hollen said in a press conference that he had met with Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa on Wednesday and asked him to release Abrego Garcia. When Ulloa refused, the senator then requested that the imprisoned Abrego Garcia be allowed to speak with his wife, mother or lawyer, which was also denied.
It was unclear how Van Hollen was eventually able to meet with Abrego Garcia or what the pair discussed, but he said in the post on X that he will have provide an update upon his return to the United States.
The meeting comes amid worries of the situation devolving into a constitutional crisis, as the Trump administration has repeatedly stated it will not return Abrego Garcia despite courts requiring it to do so.
The United States last month deported Abrego Garcia -- along with hundreds of others accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang MS-13 -- to El Salvador, where he is being held in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center.
Amid ongoing litigation concerning Abrego Garcia's deportation -- which some are arguing was an abduction -- the Trump administration admitted they erroneously sent the Maryland resident to El Salvador.
Despite both the Supreme Court and a Maryland court judge demanding that Abrego Garcia be returned, the Trump administration continues to publicly argue that he is a MS-13 gang member and appeal the court decisions that would secure his return.
Earlier this week, both Trump and President Nayib Bukele said in a White House meeting that they won't be returning Abrego Garcia, with the Salvadoran president stating that doing so would amount to smuggling "a terrorist into the United States."
On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied the Trump administration's request for a stay pending appeal on the order demanding they "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's state-side return.
"It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all," the court wrote in its ruling. "The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblances of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done.
"This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
Abrego Garcia is married to an American citizen and was granted residence in 2019. The 29-year-old migrated to the United States when he was 16.
