Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported from the United States last month, told a visiting US senator that he was moved from a notorious Salvadoran prison to a detention centre with better conditions – a statement made during a meeting that the American lawmaker said was staged by the Central American country’s government to make it look like a retreat.
Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Friday that the Salvadoran man, who was living in Maryland, told him as they met Thursday that he had shared a cell with 25 prisoners and was fearful of many inmates at the mega-prison known as CECOT before he was moved to another centre in Santa Ana, El Salvador.
The senator held an airport press conference after returning to the Washington area from El Salvador. He stood next to Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who wiped away tears as Van Hollen shared some of her husband’s comments about missing his family.
The senator, however, emphasised repeatedly to reporters that the case transcends the question of Abrego Garcia’s immigration status.
“It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States,” Van Hollen said.
“It’s very clear that the president, Trump administration are blatantly, flagrantly, disagreeing with, defying the order from the Supreme Court.”
