Senator Chris Van Hollen, D-MD., Departing to El Salvador this week to find Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man in the middle of the wrong deportation, and get answers about his condition.
While he was relieved to get the chance to meet with Abrego Garcia who faced Thursday, Senator slamming President El Salvador Nayib Bungele and President Donald Trump for what he said was an arrangement to defame him and deportee.
Van Hollen said on Friday that what he called “margarita-gate” was produced by Bukele and his officials after they posted a photo of his meeting with Abrego Garcia at a table with what appeared to be filled with margarity glasses.
In this photo was posted to the X President Salvadorean Nayib Upele account, Senator US Chris Van Hollen held a meeting with migrant Salvador Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a US citizen, wrongly deported to his home country, at a hotel in San Salvador on April 17, 2025.
@nayibbukele/x via AFP via Getty Images
The senator said the glasses were placed on the table in the middle of the road during the meeting by El Salvador officials and that he and the deportee did not touch the drink.
“Everything happened because Bukele said that could happen. And if you see the video you send immediately after that with fake margarity, you can see that all of that is setting,” Van Hollen told reporters.
Senator poked a hole in a story spread by the Allies Bakele and Trump and said the entire meeting was suspected from the start.
After being rejected access to Cecot, the super prison that was originally said by the government was to hold Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen said he was ready to fly back to US Thursday but received a message that deportee was available to meet.
El Salvador’s government tried to hold a meeting at the edge of the pool, but Senator said he had it in the room in the dining room. During the meeting, Van Hollen and Abrego Garcia had a glass of water and a cup of coffee on their table, which appeared in a photo posted by Senator.
Senator said that at one point during a meeting for one hour, officials put a glass on a table that seemed to have a liquid in it with salt rims or sugar on it. Van Hollen said she didn’t know what the liquid was.
Senator Chris Van Hollen met Kilmar Abrego Garcia at the location given as El Salvador, in this picture released April 17, 2025.
Senator Chris Van Hollen/X through Reuters
The glass in front of Abrego Garcia has less liquid than other glasses, according to Van Hollen.
“They tried to make him look like, I assumed, that he drinks,” said Senator.
Van Hollen said the satire about margarita glasses did not survive under supervision.
In this photo was posted to the X President Salvadorean Nayib Upele account, Senator US Chris Van Hollen held a meeting with migrant Salvador Kilmar Abrego Garcia (L), a US citizen, wrongly deported to his home country, at a hotel in San Salvador on April 17, 2025.
@nayibbukele/x via AFP via Getty Images
“They made mistakes,” he said about government officials. “If you take a sip of one of the glasses, some of whatever, salt or sugar, will disappear. You will see a gap. There is no gap. No one drinks anything.”
The El Salvador government has not commented on the Senator claim.
President Donald Trump met with President El Salvador Nayib Pukele at the oval office at the White House in Washington, April 14, 2025.
Ken Cedeno/Epa-Efe/Shutterstock
Trump was asked about a photo of the meeting with the previous Friday glasses and criticized Van Hollen as “fake” and repeated the disputed claim that Abrego Garcia was a MS-13 member.
“They are all fake, and they are not interested in prisoners. The prison notes are extraordinarily bad,” Trump said before including a crime in which other MS-13 members had been punished.
None of the accusations made about Abrego Garcia became part of the MS-13 have been made in court documents. Abrego Garcia’s family and lawyer have denied the gang accusation.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, accompanied by Cesar Abrego Garcia, from the left, Cecilia Garcia and Jennifer Vasquez Sura, spoke during a press conference after his arrival from a meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia at El Salvador, at Washington Dulles International Airport, at Chantilly, VA.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Van Hollen stressed that Trump tried to distract from the fact that the US government did not comply with the round orders of the Supreme Court which facilitated the return of Abrego Garcia to the US by expressing violence of gangs.
“I mean, this is a man who is in Cecot. This person has been arrested. They want to create this appearance that life is only beautiful for kilmar, which, of course, is a big lie,” he said.
Senator added that this case surpassed Abrego Garcia.
“This case is not just about one person. This is about protecting the constitutional rights of all people who live in the United States,” he said.