Sen. Van Hollen Meets with Abrego Garcia, Forgets Cameras Exist – Update Added
“Find someone who looks at you the way Democrat senators look at illegal alien MS-13 gang members….”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) trip to El Salvador to fight for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was never a good idea. But it became just plain ridiculous after the Trump administration released a series of damning revelations about Abrego Garcia’s past while Van Hollen was en route.
First, the administration dropped documents showing that Abrego Garcia’s wife had sought restraining orders against him not once, but twice, citing abusive behavior.
Second, records from the Department of Homeland Security revealed that Abrego Garcia had been “stopped for driving erratically and speeding by a Tennessee state trooper in late November 2022 and was found to be driving an SUV full of people coming from Texas with an expired Maryland license.”
The officer suspected him of involvement in human trafficking/smuggling and referred the case to DHS. The Biden administration’s DHS either failed to follow up on the referral or neglected to document any of its efforts—most likely the former.
Just the News editor John Solomon reported he had reviewed a separate document which read: “Vehicle is used by HSI Baltimore target in human smuggling/trafficking operation. Vehicle makes trips to southern border to pick up noncitizens.” The memo said that if this vehicle is encountered, the case agent should be notified.
Finally, at a Wednesday afternoon White House press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt reported on two of Abrego Garcia’s previous arrests. Notably, Leavitt had dispensed with the word “alleged” and simply stated that he was an MS-13 member.
As Mary reported last night, after multiple denials, Van Hollen was finally granted a visit with Abrego Garcia on Thursday evening. Following their meeting, Van Hollen posted a photo on X and wrote: “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return. pic.twitter.com/U9y2gZpxCb
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 18, 2025
Clearing trolling the senator, El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele had a much different take on the meeting.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!🍹 pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025
Conservatives seized on the photos of the two men “sipping margaritas,” sparking a wave of ridicule across social media.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) asked if Van Hollen represented Maryland or MS-13?
Do you represent Maryland or MS-13? Lately it’s hard to tell. https://t.co/PTdMDO04AW
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) April 18, 2025
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) joked, “Find someone who looks at you the way Democrat senators look at illegal alien MS-13 gang members….”
Find someone who looks at you the way Democrat senators look at illegal alien MS-13 gang members…. https://t.co/TyQ5MVg42T
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 18, 2025
Naturally, CNN political analyst Scott Jennings weighed in: “Party of Women really covering itself in glory tonight.”
Party of Women really covering itself in glory tonight https://t.co/vl6gRjovsT
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) April 18, 2025
And conservative media analyst Joe Concha pointed out the obvious writing, “Your preview of both a 2026 and 2028 GOP campaign ad photo.”
This photo will feature prominently in Republican attack ads next year.
Your preview of both a 2026 and 2028 GOP campaign ad photo. https://t.co/Xx0gmFhz3I
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) April 18, 2025
Perhaps one of the most brutal responses of all came from the White House. The post showed the photo of Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia next to one of Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five who was raped and killed at the hands of a depraved illegal alien during a 2023 jog on a Maryland hiking trail, meeting with President Trump. After recounting her terrible story at a Wednesday White House press briefing, Patty stopped by the Oval Office where she was warmly and sympathetically welcomed by the President.
Van Hollen never reached out to Patty’s family following Rachel’s savage death, yet he flew to El Salvador to advocate for the release of Abrego Garcia. The photo says all there really is to say.
We are not the same. pic.twitter.com/yTUoSXmCBa
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 18, 2025
Van Hollen made a grave mistake. His photo with the likely MS-13 gang member is political poison for his party. What a foolish unforced error.
Update 7:45 p.m.: Back in Washington, D.C. on Friday, Van Hollen emphasized to reporters that it was President Bukele who set he and Abrego Garcia up with the margaritas. When they first sat down, there were water glasses on the table. After they had been speaking for a while, a government worker came over and deposited two cocktails which he assumed were margaritas. He said the way you can tell that neither of them drank the cocktails was to look at the rims that were coated with salt. If you look at the rims, you would see that there were no gaps in the salt.
“This is a lesson,” he said, “into the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on. And it also shows the lengths that the Trump administration, the president, will go. Because when he was asked by a reporter about this, he just went along for the ride.”
Thanks Senator, but I don’t think your little explanation will help you or your party next year.
🚨Just in: Senator Chris Van Hollen is now saying that he was set up with a margarita by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele @nayibbukele during his visit with Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador
What is your response? pic.twitter.com/kpiaycCtuz
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) April 18, 2025
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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Comments
It’s called a staged propaganda photo event by the government of El Salvador to placate American concerns about how they treat their prisoners in maximum security prisons. The Nazis knew how to do it a lot better.
Idiotic analogy.
Um. The moronic senator posted it on his own account…
Indeed, and made sure to omit the margaritas, so El Salvador helped him with transparency.
What he did make sure to remove from sight during the talk are Garcia’s hands, covered in gang tattoos (although the tattoos on his left hand can be seen in the photo of the two of them standing face-to-face and shaking hands). Note that are concealed in every photo that’s been released. (As well as in a photo released on TikTok by Garcia wife, in which his hands are covered by cartoon hearts.)
Unmitigated tripe.
The prisoner is looking at the idiot politician and thinking “what the H is going on.”
Well that didn’t last long. The old JR escaped and is back (See his reasonable post on Hogg). I knew it was too good to be true.
Hanoi Jane didn’t have to pose in his skimpy attire.
couldn’t van Hollen find a pith helmet anywhere?
JR goes full retard JR. Muh Nazis.
I thought Trump was in with the Russians?
As for the photo….just two crooks having drinks and comparing notes.
maybe he was asking for professional advice
Whenever Van Hollen wants to beat his wife and his girlfriend, he looks to MS -13 for advice.
They even tattoo their brand on their fists so when the uppity bitch is punched, she knows where it came from.
The senator asked for the meet and he was given it – with no legal requirement for El Salvador to do so. And OC photos were taken – how else to prevent the Good Senator from framing the meet any way he wanted – even prior to the meet he was livid and very vocal about the imagined “mistreatment” he somehow knew he was about to discover and bravely reveal to The World.
If a US citizen, Garcia would have been – by common practice and diplomatic curtesy – been allowed a visit (in private) with a US diplomatic representative. He’s not a citizen (except of El Salvador) and Van Hollen is not a diplomat and had no “right” to stage his own PR meet & greet to continue lying about Garcia’s treatment and condition.
Heck, the El Salvadorans missed a trick by allowing him to dress in those casual civilian clothes for the meet – it covered up all his gang-affiliation tats quite nicely for those who wish to continue the lie that he’s not a member of a narco-terror group but instead a devoted husband and dad who definitely doesn’t engage in human trafficking or beat his wife.
If that’s what it is, they duped that stupid communist into playing right along.
Yeah, those crafty sneaky El Salvadorians, giving him exactly what he demanded and letting him meet the gang member!
The inimitable and dim-witted JR, for the loss, once again.
Tip — invoking idiotic and inapposite analogies to German National Socialists, doesn’t advance your argument.
Well that’s a stupid comment. To avoid a propaganda photo don’t be involved in it.
Odd that.
If you type “CECOT” (the maximum security gang members prisons) into Youtube there are umpteen documentaries about it many of which are by people who were visiting it as journalists ; the El Salvadorians seem rather proud of their maximum security terrorist prison and don’t sugarcoat what it’s like.
It also has the benefit of discouraging others.
Did Bukele stage that loving look your senator gave the gang banger too???
Never interfere with the enemy if he is defeating himself (or something like that).
– Sun Tsu (I think)
.
Napoleon Quote: “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”
Charles E. Mitchell, head of New York’s big National City bank, “never interfere with the enemy while he is in the process of making a mistake.”
The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War 30)
Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
Aren’t quotes great!
Well, they are. But they confuse JR.
His keeper needs to give JR his meds on time.
Democrats should die on the hill of Maryland Man, according to Carville. Van Hollen apparently thinks it’s a winner. He has Hogg and AOC nipping at his heels. Common sense, the major movement in America, be damned!
Sorry. No politician EVER forgets where the camera is, especially a senator.
Exactly. He knew what was going to happen and thought it would play to his base wacko’s.
There are still five Americans held hostage in Gaza. When is Van Hollen going to Gaza to demand that Hamas releases them immediately?
The antisemite is more likely to go to Israel and demand they release arab terrorists and murders. After all the American prisoners in gaza are Zionist oppressors and apartheid ethnic cleansers that deserve their internment and should be indicted for war crimes at the IOC.
For those who assign value (score) to political issues, why does the score usually wind up Ds-20, Rs-80?
Earlier reports that Van Hollen was considering a run to become the next president were in error.
Van Hollen is actually considering a run to become the next Kamala Harris,
well if he runs as a black indian transw0man lesbian he’ll check a lot of boxes
IANAL so I may be missing something but I was reading parts of the 2019 legal docs re::deportation.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.1.1_3.pdf
*****
Decision and Order
I……Citizen of El Salvador….etc., etc.
IV Conclusion
…fear of persecution, etc. ….DHS has not show a change in the situation in
GUATEMALA that would result in the person’s life being threatened.
*****
Best I can determine, the granted “withholding was based on deportation to Guatemala, not El Salvador.
I’m to lazy to look but I assume that there is a later court filing that corrects “Guatemala” otherwise this whole hoo-haa makes no sense.
I noticed the same thing and was confused that Guatemala was mentioned along with El Salvador. I asked the question in several forums and never got an answer so I’m assuming everyone else is scratching their heads too
It ruins the narrative. So it must be ignored.
The situation in El Salvador is much different today than it was in 2019 and I imagine the withholding would be overturned today. I also found it interesting that even after Barrio 18 threatened his sisters with rape, the family sent their son away? Abrego Garcia’s absence wouldn’t change anything. The gang would still extort the family and would still threaten them.
That’s weird.
To SHV,
Garcia was ordered deported, but was granted a withholding order as he claimed fear of a rival gang assault in El Salvador.
So the government was arranging to deport him to Guatemala instead as part of the withholding of deportation to El Salvador.
MS 13 has been declared a terrorist organization. so once he was adjudicated (twice) as a member of MS 13, he lost his withholding order as terrorists are not permitted these orders.
Van Hollen ran down there to stage a stupid photo op, now he’s whining that El Salvador upstaged his photo op with one of their own.
Cue Nelson Muntz.
“Van Hollen made a grave mistake. His photo with the likely MS-13 gang member is political poison for his party.”
Liz, why did you say a “Likely” gang member when two judges and the VA police have said that he IS a MS-13 gang member? I don’t expect such equivocation on this website.
On another note, this was done because Van Hollen is trying to become the next Dem honcho to be the nominee in 2028. Spartacus did the same thing with his absurd 25-hour speech.
I don’t think this insane , disgusting, vile, expedient is what the Democrats meant for it to be
Dear God
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/breaking-supreme-court-blocks-trumps-use-alien-enemies/
SCOTUS doesn’t want to lose their landscapers no matter what. Sick.
Now that’s rich. He comes back and the only thing he wants to clear the air about is that he didn’t order the margarita.
He does not deny that he cares more about foreign criminals than law-abiding American citizens.
Come on, this is Maryland. He’ll be reelected with 65% of the vote. If he hadn’t gone, maybe it would have been 67%.
I thought the glasses were water. For margaritas I would expect a colored liquid, slice of lemon, etc. Van Hollen is probably just making up the story about margaritas to go on the offensive about something and say how his poor former constituent Maryland Man was tricked and treated badly.
Almost looks like Garcia is giving Van Hollen a handy.