Editor's Note: This story has been updated clarifying details about the Trump administration's case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
TECOLUCA, El Salvador – Sen. Chris Van Hollen was stopped by armed guards at a military checkpoint on Thursday and turned away less than two miles from the notorious prison where a Maryland father who was wrongly deported from the U.S. is being held.
It was the second day in a row the Maryland Democrat has been refused entry into the prison, even though at least two GOP House members were given a tour of the facility just two days earlier.
USA TODAY was following the senator's motorcade when it was stopped. The checkpoint appeared to be set up specifically to keep him from the prison.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in hopes of touring the prison and meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was detained by U.S. immigration officials in March and deported to El Salvador despite a prior court order that forbade him from being returned to the Central American country.
"Our goal was very simple today, which was to check on the health and well being of Kilmar," Van Hollen told reporters. "But we were stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint about three kilometers from CECOT prison. We were told by the soldiers that they'd been ordered not to allow us to proceed any further than that point."
On Wednesday, Van Hollen met with Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa but made little progress in his efforts to bring Abrego Garcia home to Maryland. Ulloa told the senator he couldn’t arrange access to visit Abrego Garcia in prison, nor could he set up a phone call with the prisoner.
Abrego Garcia, 29, a sheet metal worker and father of three, was detained in March by U.S. immigration officials near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, and deported to El Salvador three days later, even though an immigration judge had ordered that he could not be returned to the Central American country.
Government attorneys acknowledged in court documents that he wasdeported by mistakebut say they have no authority to free him because he is imprisoned in a foreign country.
U.S. officials contend Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, recently deemed a foreign terrorist organization. But their evidence relies on a confidential informant and clothing Garcia was wearing in 2019 police encounter.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland, who is handling the case, has questioned the strength of the government's evidence.
"Defendants have claimed – without any evidence – that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13," Xinis wrote in an April 6 opinion.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said during a visit to the White House on Monday that he would not release Abrego Garcia and called the suggestion “preposterous."
Abrego Garcia’s family has sued the U.S. government demanding his return. The U.S.Supreme Courtordered the Trump administration on April 11 to begin the process of bringing him back to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia is being held in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. The prison has been criticized for its harsh and dangerous conditions, as well as its rough treatment of prisoners.
Since he was sent to the prison, Abrego Garcia has not been allowed to have contact with anyone on the outside, including his wife and attorney, Van Hollen said.
The senator said that is a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty to which El Salvador is a party. The treaty says that a detained or imprisoned person is entitled to communicate and consult with legal counsel.
While Salvadoran officials have refused to allow Van Hollen into the prison, at least two Republican House members – Reps. Riley Moore of West Virginia and Jason Smith of Missouri – were given a tour of the facility and posted photos on social media on Tuesday.
Contributing: Michael Collins
