Alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was seen “sipping margaritas” with Sen. Chris Van Hollen Thursday amid his high-profile deportation battle, according to photos shared by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele shared three pics of the Democratic Maryland lawmaker meeting with Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison last month, while lounging in the country’s “tropical paradise.”
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador,” Bukele said in an X post Thursday night.
Van Hollen (D-MD) traveled to the Central American nation this week to push for the release of the illegal migrant and purported MS-13 member.
Van Hollen also took to social media to share a photo of him meeting with Abrego Garcia, who was wearing a colorful checkered collard shirt, jeans, sneakers and a Kansas City Super Bowl hat .
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar,” Van Hollen posted to X.
“Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Abrego Garcia — who had been living in Maryland — was shipped off with 260 other reputed gang members to El Salvador’s hellhole lockup CECOT last month under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act.
The feds have claimed he is part of the notorious MS-13 gang with a rank and street name and that he was illegally in the country — despite never being charged with a crime and repeatedly denying the gang accusations.
Several court orders — including one from the US Supreme Court — have called on the federal government to return the Salvadoran migrant.
Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody 🇺🇸🤝🏼🇸🇻 https://t.co/2xVt4SNOGn
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025