Democratic lawmakers are preparing to travel to El Salvador with the goal of securing the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father who was abducted by the Trump administration and mistakenly sent to a brutal maximum security prison in the Central American nation.
On Sunday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen sent a letter to Milena Mayorga, El Salvador’s ambassador to the United States, requesting a meeting with President Nayib Bukele to discuss the matter.
“If Kilmar is not home by midweek – I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release,” Van Hollen said in a statement.
Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida offered to join Van Hollen on his trip.
“We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador,” Frost said in a post on Bluesky.
Recently elected Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona said she hoped to join the delegation, as has Rep. Robert Garcia of California.
While Democrats are the minority in the House and Senate, these members are using the power of their elected offices to draw attention to Garcia’s wrongful detention and possibly secure his release. Democrats have been under fire from their base for not doing enough to oppose Trump’s lawless actions since he took office in January.
On Monday, at a White House appearance alongside Bukele, Trump pretended to be powerless to secure Garcia’s release. His administration has admitted in court that Garcia was wrongly deported to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador. Bukele also claimed he was unable to release the man and referred to him as a “terrorist threat.”
Despite the Supreme Court ruling that Garcia, who is a Salvadoran citizen and legal U.S. resident, should be returned, Trump called reporters “sick people” for asking about the issue.
A group of Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (MD) and Rep. Robert Garcia (CA), will travel to El Salvador in a bid to free the wrongly imprisoned Kilmar Ábrego García.