Van Hollen: 'I am not defending the man, I am defending the rights of this man to due process'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Sunday that his recent trip to El Salvador was not about defending Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident deported despite a court order, but about defending the Constitution.

“I am not defending the man. I'm defending the rights of this man to due process,” Van Hollen told ABC News' “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday. “And the Trump administration has admitted in court that he was wrongfully detained and wrongfully deported. My mission and my purpose is to make sure that we uphold the rule of law, because if we take it away from him, we do jeopardize it for everybody else.”

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador last week to seek answers about the detention and safety of Abrego Garcia, who was deported in March to the country’s notorious CECOT prison, despite a 2019 court order prohibiting his removal due to safety fears. The Trump administration alleged he was affiliated with the MS-13 gang -- an accusation his attorneys and his family firmly deny.

Abrego Garcia, who fled from gang threats in El Salvador in 2011, is married to a U.S. citizen and is the father of a 5-year-old son with autism. He was apprehended by ICE in Maryland on March 12, transferred to a Texas detention center, and then deported -- something the administration later called an “administrative error.” He remains under a final order of removal.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/van-hollen-am-not-defending-132620187.html

[sop]

1. It's a simple choice: Rule of law or Rule by Trump?

[Skittles]

2. the same should be said about Mangione's victim

yes indeed

[ExciteBike66]

30. What did the government do to his victim?

[Skittles]

31. I'm referring to due process and rule of law

you cannot let any kind of distaste for the victim (true or imagined) cloud judgement

Trump and Mangione are both on the WRONG SIDE of the law

[JI7]

35. Mangione was arrested and charged

[Skittles]

38. yes, but he has a fan club

plenty of people think what he did was just fine - truly disgusting

[malaise]

3. That simple

Rec

[WarGamer]

4. Backing off because of the wife beating and the MS13 evidence...

Defending the rule of law is much more palatable for the voting public.

Already I expect to see this used in campaign ads.

[ibegurpard]

5. What MS13 evidence?

The doctored photos?
Sure...

[WarGamer]

6. Why do you think his asylum was denied?

In 2019, a Judge found the evidence that he was a MS13 member was credible and that finding was upheld by a second Judge.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1k4072e3nno

Also in 2019 a Judge granted the withholding of removal.

His asylum request was denied.

The tattoos? I'm not an expert on gang tattoos.



Why does it seem like most people haven't even read the history of the case?

[NickB79]

9. Did you actually read your own link?

The only evidence presented in your own link was that he wore a Chicago Bulls hat, and an unnamed informant said he was MS-13 in New York, a state he never lived in.

As for his asylum request:

In October 2019 he was granted a "withholding of removal" order, court documents show - a status different from asylum, but one which prevented the US government from sending him back to El Salvador because he could face harm.

And the cop who made these allegations turned out to be dirty.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2025/04/17/maryland-police-officer-report-abrego-garcia-prison/83141240007/

Just days after the March 2019 encounter at a Home Depot in Hyattsville where Abrego Garcia was flagged as a potential MS-13 gang member, Mendez was suspended from the force.

Court records show he was then indicted in June 2020 for misconduct in office. Court records allege he shared “sensitive and confidential information about an ongoing police investigation with a commercial sex worker.”

You seem to be the one who hasn't read enough of this case.

[WarGamer]

11. none of that was argued in a Court of Law...

BTW here's all the actual legal docs

https://www.justice.gov/ag/media/1396906/dl?inline

When he was arrested with three other men in a murder investigation, at least two of the others were also known MS13 members with criminal records.

Read the records. Don't make arguments based on guests on Maddow or such things.

[NickB79]

18. How about the Washington Post?

It goes into great detail about his arrest outside Home Depot in 2019, and how there are substantial discrepancies between the different reports given that day.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/04/19/kilmar-abrego-garcia-ice-police-gang-registry/

The other men he was picked up with?

While all four men were detained and questioned, none were ever charged with a crime, according to court documents.

Snip

The Post could find no mention of a murder investigation in any other public records, and Prince George’s County police did not respond to questions about other investigations involving Abrego García or the agency’s Gang Unit.

Long story short:

To date, the only evidence federal authorities have produced in court to support such allegations is the Maryland police detective’s 2019 gang sheet.

[WarGamer]

21. this was never argued IN COURT... only on TV and blogs.

[NickB79]

22. All that was argued IN COURT was the word of a discredited officer

If you read the Washington Post report I linked to (which you must have read REALLY fast to respond so soon), you should be getting serious whiffs of corruption from this police force. It's shady as fuck.

[ibegurpard]

10. Thanks for assuming I'm ignorant

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna201708

[WarGamer]

12. Then since you've read it all... how can you say "no evidence"?

Did you see the bodycam video of him being pulled over and under suspicion of human smuggling?

[TnDem]

7. re: tattoos

I wouldn't call myself an expert on STG tattoos, but I have 20 years of direct experience with them.

The tattoos he has ARE MS13 tattoos that are in inmate code...Find my other post where it is mentioned as I don't want to retype the whole thing. Most STG/gang members have a code for tattoos because they do not want to be entered in the LE/Corrections database as a confirmed member. Once the code is figured out by LE, it is usually by a snitching gang member that rat on their brothers and explain the code.

Why do you think his wife covered the tattoos with hearts on the TikTok post she made?

Dipshit Trump's spokespeople tried to explain them by adding the MS13 lettering above the symbols, when what they should have done is just explain the symbols themselves.

[TnDem]

8. Nope

Not doctored at all....Dumbass Trump just tried to add the actual letters above the coded tattoos to better explain them.

They should have just explained them.

I immediately knew it was MS13 because these are widely seen and common on inmates in detention and prisons by inmates that want to confound the STG investigators with coded tattoos.

[obamanut2012]

19. Lol that is not true

[NickB79]

25. There's no evidence at all for your claim

A good read on the subject here.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/trumps-tattoo-theory-to-prove-ms-13-gang-ties-of-kilmar-abrego-garcia-what-experts-say-about-presidents-renewed-focus-on-ink/articleshow/120425771.cms

[obamanut2012]

17. Zero evidence he was in a gang

The DV has been resolved.

[WarGamer]

20. The evidence was argued in Court and 2 Judges found him to have gang affiliation.

Look at the legal docs I linked above.

[Tickle]

33. The DV has been resolved?

Where do I begin? He physically punched her, her tore her shirt off. That wasn't the first time and it most certainly won't be the last.

[Skittles]

26. LOL

repukes elected a MULTI-FELON RAPIST "president" and PARDONED J6 thugs

THE RULE OF LAW MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO THEM

[WarGamer]

29. true!

[ibegurpard]

13. Done playing with people bringing the Trump regime propaganda here

Here is a full history of Abrego Garcia. Like van Hollen said it's about following the law and giving him his day in court which he is ENTITLED to as much as any citizen.
Unbelievable that we're allowing people to muddy the waters here on DU about it.

This was not a slam at the OP but at some of the respondents who I've subsequently put on ignore

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna201708

[WarGamer]

14. Bottom line. The rule of law wasn't followed.

Even if he's brought back for an hour to appear in front of a Judge and deported again... it's necessary.

Without laws... Trump is truly a King.

I support Van Hollen's recent statement.

[bronxiteforever]

23. The bottom line is due process exists because people

are not infallible. I can’t believe that so many people ignore the numerous reports there have been about born in the US citizens told to self deport. It like some people who post never read the news.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/self-deportation-email-citizen-immigration-lawyer
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/us-citizen-told-to-self-deport-they-want-immigrants-to-be-uncomfortable-here/3687252/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/homeland-security-orders-another-u-153811385.html

Yes, I can see these stories being used in campaign ads.

[Arazi]

16. Exactly

The MS-13 claim comes from a 2019 police report citing an unnamed informant and Abrego’s Bulls cap. It didn’t hold up; he was protected from deportation by a Trump-appointed judge with an above-average denial rate. The cop was later indicted, pleaded guilty to misconduct and fired.

He deserves habeas no matter what but especially because the water is now so very very muddy

[Skittles]

27. fky under-the-radar trolls are NOTORIOUS for that

in fact, that is pretty much ALL they do

[Oneironaut]

15. The asshole strategy is shifting the debate to whether or not Garcia was a good person. It's irrelevant.

We give due process to members of the KKK, child molesters, rapists, etc. we either do it for everybody, or, we can do it for nobody.

Don’t get stuck in a debate on Garcia’s character. It doesn’t matter. What we did to him was Fascistic, and, against the law, and, that’s what matters.

[Skittles]

28. and the same is true regarding Mangione and HIS victim

YUP

[Iggo]

34. Same strategy they use when they kill an unarmed black person.

If you feel one way about one and another way about the other, a self-check is in order.

(Not you you. I mean the general you.)

[Martin68]

24. MAGA don't know the meaning of "due [rocess." When you say that they hear "blah, blah, liberal, blah, blah."

[Seeking Serenity]

32. Yeah, no. You kinda are.

Sorry. I hate that for you, though.

[kentuck]

36. Van Hollen's comment destroyed Trump's narrative.

Trump wanted to define it in such a way that it could not be challenged. "We are getting these bad people out of our country".

"Democrats want to protect murderers and rapists".

But, when Van Hollen defines it as protecting our Constitution and the rights of every American, Trump did not know how to respond? He had been checkmated.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

37. Such nuance whoooshes over the heads of MAGAts.