House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green slammed Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) Thursday for “wasting taxpayer dollars” in making a trip to El Salvador to advocate for the release of deported alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday, demanding that the Central American country release Abrego Garcia after he was deported in an administrative error.
But Green, a Republican, said that “there is no excuse for Democrats to waste taxpayer dollars” by “visiting and defending a transnational gang member and reported domestic abuser.”
“If Democrats care so much about defending this individual, they can use their own personal credit cards—not taxpayers’ money—to virtue-signal to their radical base,” he added.
The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia last month, but has been asked by multiple federal courts, including the Supreme Court, to return him to the US after his removal was found to be the result of a “clerical error.”
Van Hollen posted a video on X Thursday from outside the Salvadoran mega-prison holding Abrego Garcia, saying he was “denied entry” to visit the alleged gangbanger.
“We were there for one simple reason: to check on his well-being, which his family and lawyers have not been allowed to do. We won’t stop fighting,” said Van Hollen.
The Salvadoran citizen was shipped off with 260 other reputed gang members after President Trump invoked the use of the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, which allowed the feds to deport them rapidly without a hearing.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers argue that their client has no criminal history in the US to back his deportation.
The Trump administration, however, says his illegal entry into the US via the southern border in 2011 justifies his removal from America.
Justice Department lawyers have claimed they’re complying with the courts’ orders by removing obstacles in the US that would prevent Abrego Garcia’s return, but argue they can’t force El Salvador to bring him back.
Abrego Garcia was detained by local cops in March 2019 after he was found hanging out with confirmed MS-13 gangbangers in a Home Depot parking lot, according to documents released by the Department of Justice Wednesday.
It was also revealed that a “past proven and reliable source” told a Hyattsville City Police Department detective that Abrego Garcia was a member of MS-13’s Western clique who carried the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker “Chele,” according to a gang field interview sheet.
At the time of his previous arrest, Abrego Garcia was donning a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the different denominations, which is “indicative of the Hispanic gang culture.”
“Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents that they are a member in good standing with the MS-13,” the police report read.
After determining he was in the US illegally, ICE agents took Abrego Garcia into federal custody.
But an immigration judge blocked Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador in October 2019, saying he was at risk of retaliation from MS-13’s chief rival, Barrio 18.
Abrego Garcia was also previously accused of physically abusing his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen who has been advocating for his release.
Vasquez Sura asked a Maryland court to grant her a protective order against her husband in 2021, saying he punched, scratched, grabbed and bruised her, according to court documents.
The woman told The Post Wednesday that she was “acting out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar … in case things escalated” after she survived domestic abuse “in a previous relationship.”
“Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through this situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling,” she said.
“Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect.”
She also argued that Abrego Garcia’s alleged abuse “is not justification for ICE’s actions of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation.”
“I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”