Chris Van Hollen condemns āunjust situationā and says vice-president blocked access to wrongly deported man***
Marylandās Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen says the government of El Salvador has denied his request to visit Kilmar Ćbrego GarcĆa, his constituent who was wrongly deported to the Central American country last month.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday with the intention of meeting Ćbrego GarcĆa at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), where US authorities have said that the Maryland resident is being held along with others deported at Donald Trumpās orders.
The senatorās visit came days after Trump and El Salvadorās president, Nayib Bukele, refused to take steps to return Ćbrego GarcĆa to the United States, even though the US supreme court last week said the administration must āfacilitateā his return.
I mean, I donāt totally disagree here, but Iām not sure what kind of clout thatās supposed to hold under team Trump.
Like, understanding this isnāt a perfect analogy, if I were working in an American prison holding a Russian prisoner and a Putin-aligned legislator wanted to see that prisoner I would take great pleasure in telling them to fuck off if I had that power.
The difference would be that presumably weād be holding that prisoner despite Russians wishes not because of them. We paid for them (are paying?) to hold this guy. Heās not their prisoner, heās ours. The whole situation is fucked but that analogy isnāt quite accurate.
I made it on the fly, but the point is that the clout goes away when 1) youāre not my senator, 2) youāre not a legislator in my country and 3) you go against everything I stand for - what kind of clout am I supposed to feel from someone like that?