The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on April 20, 2025.
WEIJIA JIANG: And we turn now to Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. Senator, thank you so much for joining us this morning. You’re just back from El Salvador, and I want to pick up where we left off with Camilo, because the White House is using these new details to build its case that Abrego Garcia should stay where he is and not come back to the U.S. Your response?
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, Weijia it’s good to be with you and these- his case is, of course, separate than the case of the Venezuelans that you were talking about earlier.
WEIJIA JIANG: Yes.
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: And in Abrego Garcia’s case, the Trump administration admitted in federal court that he’d been wrongfully abducted and sent to a prison in El Salvador. But rather than fixing the problem, as the Supreme Court has said, in terms of his need to be- use their efforts to to facilitate his release, they reprimanded the lawyer who made that case. So, they need to bring him home. Now, with respect to these other facts. I say, put up or shut up in court, as you just heard in your last conversation, they have not done that and I do want to just read one sentence from the federal district court who said, and I quote, “that the administration has presented no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13, or to any other terrorist activity,” unquote. Go to court, stop tweeting and put up or shut up in front of the judges.
WEIJIA JIANG: You bring that up because that is why the administration says that they have deported Abrego Garcia. And you have previously said that when you talk to him, he was not informed about why he was deported or detained. Did you tell him why the administration says they did what they did?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: I did not go over all the facts of his case, other than to say that the courts of the United States had determined that he had been wrongfully detained and deported. He has no news of his case. He did tell me that when he was taken to the Baltimore detention facility, he wanted to make one phone call to let people know exactly what was happening in terms of his detention there, and he was not able to make it. He did not know at that time that they were going to send him back to El Salvador, where, as you say, a federal immigration judge had- had prohibited, prohibited the administration from sending him.
WEIJIA JIANG: You also said that you did not directly ask Abrego Garcia whether he is a member of MS-13, which, of course, the Trump administration has designated as a terrorist group. I wonder why because that is all we are hearing from the White House and you know, he hasn’t been able to speak for himself. So did you ask him?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Well, I know his answer. His answer he has made repeatedly, including in court, which is that he is not. I was not there to litigate all the details of his case. I was there to make sure that he was still alive and check on his health. That’s what I promised his wife and family that I would try to do, and that is what I did.
WEIJIA JIANG: Since he was deported, there have been a lot of questions about his welfare and where exactly he is and you broke the news that he is no longer at CECOT, the maximum security prison, but rather transferred. Do you know why he was transferred and how long he’ll stay at this less restrictive prison?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: I don’t know why he was transferred. I mean, CECOT was a traumatizing experience, as was being sort of abducted from the United States illegally, without knowing why. He did say that he felt threatened by other prisoners at CECOT, not those who were in his immediate cell, but taunts from others. So he is now at a place in Santa Ana, and I believe I was the first to learn that he had been transferred.
WEIJIA JIANG: I want to show our viewers some pictures that the president of El Salvador, Bukele, showing you and Abrego Garcia sitting around what appears to be margaritas. You have blamed him for trying to deceive people with props. After he posted those images, he also posted, quote, “I love chess.” Do you have any concerns that the Salvadoran government used you as a pawn to make their point that Abrego Garcia is doing well and that he should stay where he is?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: No, in fact, the El Salvadoran government tried really hard not to let me see him, but I think they realized that that was not a good look at the end of the day. I had press conferences in El Salvador with local press and made the point that El Salvador was violating international law by not allowing anyone to reach him, not his wife, not his lawyers, nobody. They realized that was a bad look. So I’m glad I met him, that was the purpose of my visit. They go to great lengths to deceive people, and that’s what you saw, because they got these government guys, essentially told the waiters to bring these drinks that appear to look like margaritas to the table. No one touched them. I can go into the details about how their whole scheme was set up, but the reality is, if you look at the photos when I first sat down, and the ones at the end, you can see that that was all staged. They’re trying to create the impression that you know this is a guy in paradise when, in fact, he’s been in one of the most notorious prisons in the world.
WEIJIA JIANG: Well, the Trump administration has made abundantly clear that they have no intention of bringing him back to the United States. And in fact, the- the official White House account posted a picture that says exactly that based on their own edits. Is it fair to say that Abrego Garcia will remain in El Salvador as long as Trump is president, or unless Trump changes his mind?
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: No, because the Supreme Court of the United States and the other courts have said that the administration has to facilitate his return. As of right now, they are in defiance of that court order. They’re not doing anything. I want to be really clear, this is not a case about just one man whose constitutional rights are being ignored and disrespected. Because when you trample on the constitutional rights of one man, as the courts have all said is happening in this case, you threaten the constitutional rights of every American. I would think that conservatives and libertarians would recoil at the idea that someone has lost his liberty without due process. That’s my focus. My focus is not on one man. It’s on making sure one man’s rights are secured so that we can uphold the rule of law.
WEIJIA JIANG: Senator Van Hollen, thank you. We hope to see you back soon and Happy Easter.
SEN. VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.
WEIJIA JIANG: Face the Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us.
