Trump administration has $15M deal with El Salvador to accept deportees, MD senator says

DULLES, Va. - Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen flew into Dulles Airport on Friday after visiting a wrongly deported man in El Salvador. The senator says he learned that the Trump administration struck a $15 million deal with the Central American nation to take deportees from the United States.

According to Van Hollen, Abrego Garcia been moved to a new detention facility in El Salvador. He says Abrego Garcia says he is well and that his family is keeping him motivated to keep going. 

But a major development came out of Van Hollen's visit to El Salvador. 

The senator reported — for the first time — that he believes there is a $15 million deal between the United States government and El Salvador related to the detention facility where Abrego Garcia and many other deportees from the U.S. were being held. 

Van Hollen says he plans to investigate the use of taxpayer dollars in that deal as he continues to fight for Abrego Garcia's return.

Dig deeper:

According to Van Hollen, Abrego Garcia asked for a phone call when he was placed in a Maryland detention facility but was denied. Then he was transferred to a facility in Texas before being put on a plane handcuffed, shackled, and he could not see out the window and did not know where he was going.  

Abrego Garcia says he has been traumatized by being at the detention center but he was recently moved to a new facility with better conditions.

Abrego Garcia told Van Hollen that he is not afraid of the other men in his immediate detention cell but he is fearful of other prisoners in the facility who called out to him and taunted him. 

The reason an immigration judge ruled in 2019 that he could not be deported to El Salvador was because he demonstrated a credible fear of persecution if he returned.

"An immigration judge found years ago that it would put his life in danger if he was returned to El Salvador," Van Hollen said. "He was given protective status and a work permit."
 

The other side:

Meanwhile, the White House continues to assert that he will not return to the United States.

Following Abrego Garcia's deportation back in March, the Trump administration admitted that sending him back to El Salvador was an "error" but they won't do anything to bring him back, even after a Supreme Court ruled that they should facilitate his return. 

READ MORE: Trump administration says US can't force return of man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

Both Trump and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele maintain that they have no plans to bring Abrego Garcia back.

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed Abrego Garcia is a criminal and a member of the violent MS-13 gang, but has yet to provide direct evidence of those claims. 

The White House also insists Abrego Garcia was in the states illegally, despite the 2019 court ruling determining he should not be deported.