Sen. Van Hollen says trip to El Salvador was about defending the right of due process, not ‘defending the man’

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen stated Sunday that his trip to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia was about “defending the rights of this man to due course of,” and not about “defending the man.”

“The Trump administration has admitted in courtroom that he was wrongfully detained and wrongfully deported,” the Maryland senator stated on ABC Information’ “This Week.”

“My mission and my goal is to ensure that we uphold the rule of legislation, as a result of if we take it away from him, we do jeopardize it for everyone else,” he added.

Van Hollen additionally warned on CNN’s “State of the Union,” that denying “the constitutional rights of this one man, … threatens the constitutional rights of everyone in America.”

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the senator stated the Trump administration is “flouting the courts as we converse.”

When requested whether or not the U.S. is in a constitutional disaster, the Maryland senator stated: “Sure, we’re.”

Van Hollen’s Sunday present media blitz comes after he traveled to El Salvador this week to meet with Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported from Maryland.

In recounting his assembly with Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen described him as having “skilled trauma” from his imprisonment.

“He advised me about the trauma he had been experiencing, each in phrases of the abduction and the proven fact that he was initially despatched to CECOT, which is that this infamous jail,” Van Hollen stated on “This Week.”

Van Hollen’s go to to El Salvador got here after its President Nayib Bukele stated throughout a White Home go to earlier this month that he would not return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

Hours later, the Trump administration advised a federal decide that it lacked authority to compel El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia, regardless of a U.S. Supreme Courtroom ruling saying that the administration ought to “facilitate” his return.