Maryland senator says he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release

Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the Justice Department said it mistakenly deported.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced that he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the Justice Department said it mistakenly deported.

“My hope is to visit Kilmar and check on his wellbeing and to hold constructive conversations with government officials around his release. We must urgently continue working to return Kilmar safely home to Maryland,” Van Hollen, D-Md., said in a statement Tuesday night, calling Abrego Garcia’s deportation “unlawful” and an “abduction.”

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Van Hollen plans to travel after he sent a letter to El Salvador's ambassador to the United States on Monday asking for a meeting with President Nayib Bukele, who said in a meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump earlier that day that he “of course” would not send Abrego Garcia back to the country.

Several Democratic lawmakers have said this week that they are willing to travel to El Salvador to seek the man's release.