Kilmar Ábrego Garcíathe Salvadoran migrant who was expelled from USA despite having legal status in the country, he was transferred to another prison in El Salvador after having spent several weeks detained in the maximum security prison known as blind.
This is how the US senator detailed it Chris Van Hollenwho traveled to El Salvador this week to ask Nayib Bukele’s government to release Ábrego, resident for more than a decade in Marylandthe state that the legislator represents.
Van Hollen managed to meet with Ábrego on Thursday in San Salvador and gave a press conference this Friday where he recounted details of their conversation and accused the Trump Government of lying on the case of the Salvadoran and violating the Constitution.
Kilmar Abrego García, expelled from the US by mistake
The senator reported that García was transferred “nine days ago” to another prison in Santa Antain the west of the country, but still unable to communicate with the outside world and He is “traumatized” after his experience in the megaprison, notorious for allegations of human rights abuses.
“(Ábrego) feels very sad to be detained, because has not committed any crime,” Van Hollen said, adding that Salvadoran authorities have not given the 29-year-old migrant an explanation as to why he is detained.
Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa, with whom Van Hollen also met, told the legislator that Ábrego He was imprisoned because Trump “is paying” to keep him stopped.
No communication with the outside
Abrego He has not been able to talk to his wife or childrenall American citizens, and told Van Hollen that thinking about his family is what gives him “strength” to continue “every day.”
The senator directly criticized the Trump Government, accusing it of ignore the Supreme Courtwhich in a ruling last week ordered that Ábrego’s return be “facilitated.”
“This case is not just about one man (…) but about the protection of fundamental freedoms and the Constitution”Van Hollen said.
Ábrego García, who lived in the state of Maryland, fled El Salvador due to the extortion and threats that he and his family received from the gang. Barrio 18, according to court documents presented by his defense.
The Trump Government has launched a media campaign to link him to the MS-13 gangdespite the fact that he has no criminal record in the US.
This Friday, the White House published a series of documents about Ábrego, where an unfinished investigation is detailed about the man after police detained him during a traffic stop in 2022 while he was driving a vehicle containing eight other men.
The Salvadoran Ábrego is one of the more than 200 migrants – mostly Venezuelans – who were expelled from the US and sent to the high-security prison without the possibility of appealing their cases before a court, in what human rights groups have described as “forced disappearance.”