Democrat Senator Heads to El Salvador to Advocate for Alleged MS-13 Member

While American families grieve the loss of loved ones at the hands of illegal immigrant criminals, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is packing his bags for El Salvador not to support border security or aid U.S. victims, but to demand the return of an alleged MS-13 gang member to American soil.

The Democrat senator confirmed on Tuesday that he is personally traveling to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national and Maryland resident who was deported in March and is currently being held at the country's Terrorism Confinement Center. According to the Trump administration, Garcia is affiliated with the brutal MS-13 gang, designated as a foreign terror organization.

Van Hollen, however, insists Garcia is a victim.

“We must urgently continue working to return Kilmar safely home to Maryland,” he declared in a statement, calling Garcia’s removal an “abduction and unlawful deportation.”

Let’s be clear this is the modern Democratic Party in action elevating the rights of foreign nationals over the safety of American citizens. Van Hollen isn’t just demanding the return of a man accused of gang ties he’s flying thousands of miles to check on him personally.

Meanwhile, back in Van Hollen’s home state, the family of Rachel Morin is still mourning. The 37-year-old mother of five was raped and murdered by Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez, another illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Earlier this week, he was convicted in a Maryland courtroom.

The contrast is sickening.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt didn’t mince words:

“It’s mind-boggling… Democrats in Congress spending more time defending illegal immigrant gang members than their own constituents… like Rachel Morin.”

Garcia’s legal status is murky at best. Though granted a withholding order in 2019 to avoid deportation, that protection has expired, according to White House aide Stephen Miller, who pointed out that under the Trump administration, MS-13 members are no longer shielded by loopholes.

During a recent meeting with President Trump, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele refused to repatriate Garcia to the U.S., asking bluntly:

“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?”

It’s a question Van Hollen would do well to answer.

The senator’s bizarre crusade is attracting more Democrat support. Reports say Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) fresh off a fiery tirade against Trump is considering joining Van Hollen on the trip. Apparently, saving an alleged gang member from a high-security prison is now a group project for progressive senators.

Let’s not forget what MS-13 really is: a hyper-violent gang responsible for decades of murder, drug trafficking, extortion, and human smuggling across the U.S., especially in communities like those in Van Hollen’s own state. But instead of fighting to keep these violent criminals out, Democrats are bending over backward to bring them back in.

This is not compassion. This is dereliction of duty.

While Trump’s administration tightens the borders, roots out gang-affiliated illegals, and restores law and order, Democrats like Van Hollen are spending taxpayer time and money fighting for foreign criminals.

America deserves better. And the families of victims like Rachel Morin deserve justice not political grandstanding.

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