Star Metro - El Salvador rejects US senator's plea to free wrongly deported migrant

Chris Van Hollen said he had also been refused a visit or phone call with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is imprisoned in his native country despite a US federal judge's order, backed by the Supreme Court, for his return to the United States.

Van Hollen said he had asked Vice President Felix Ulloa when they met why Abrego Garcia was still locked up in the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) if he had committed no crime and El Salvador had no evidence that he was a member of street gang MS-13.

"His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT," Van Hollen, who represents Abrego Garcia's home state of Maryland, told reporters during a visit to the Central American nation.

Washington has previously said it paid President Nayib Bukele's administration several million dollars to keep deportees in detention.

"I'm asking President Bukele… to do the right thing and allow Mr Abrego Garcia to walk out of prison, a man who's charged with no crime, convicted of no crime, and who was illegally abducted from the United States," Van Hollen said.

A legal US resident, Abrego Garcia was protected by a 2019 court order determining that he could not be deported to El Salvador, but he was sent there around a month ago.

The Trump administration has admitted its mistake, and has been ordered by the Supreme Court to "facilitate" the 29-year-old's return.

But the administration -- pressed on what action it was taking to remedy its error in lower court hearings -- has not announced any efforts toward Abrego Garcia's return.

Bukele said during a White House visit on Monday he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.

Trump told reporters he did not have the authority to intervene, leaving the man in limbo.

- 'Picking on most vulnerable' -

Trump's critics have warned that his defiance of the courts has placed the country on the cusp of a constitutional crisis.

"This is about due process. This is about rule of law," Van Hollen said earlier.

"What bullies do is they begin by picking on the most vulnerable. But if we get rid of the rule of law and due process in the United States, it's a short road from there to tyranny."

The White House claims that it is complying with the courts and says, without providing evidence, that Abrego Garcia is a gang member. He denies the accusation and has never been charged with crimes in either country.

District Judge Paula Xinis said the case against him amounted to "nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie, and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant" of his gang membership.

West Virginia Republican congressman Riley Moore posted on X Tuesday that he had also traveled to El Salvador to see the prison where immigrants deported by the Trump administration are being held.

He declared himself supportive of Trump's actions, however.

Another Democratic senator, Cory Booker, was also mulling a trip to the country but has not yet made an announcement on timing.

Two Democrats in the House of Representatives -- Maxwell Alejandro Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California -- were also reportedly planning to visit.

O.Lessard--SMC