"Margarita-Gate" Kilmar Ábrego García is now in another prison - Democrat visits him
The Democrat meets the deported Kilmar Ábrego García in El Salvador. Suddenly, alleged margaritas appear at the table and the country's president scoffs. The senator has an explanation.
19.04.2025, 07:13
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Kilmar Ábrego García was deported from the USA to El Salvador despite existing protection against deportation.
- This is despite the fact that courts have ordered his return.
- The Trump administration is ignoring the court ruling and claiming that he is a gang member, which Ábrego and his lawyers deny.
The migrant Kilmar Ábrego García, who was deported from the USA despite having protection status, has been transferred from the notorious Salvadoran maximum security prison CECOT to another detention center near the city of Santa Ana.
This was announced by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who had met Ábrego in El Salvador for the first time. Ábrego had told him that conditions were better there, that he was no longer in a cell with 25 other prisoners, but that he still had no contact with the outside world.
The 29-year-old comes from El Salvador and, according to US media, entered the USA around 2011 while fleeing gang violence. Although his asylum application was rejected in 2019, he was granted protection from deportation - with reference to the threat of political persecution.
Senator speaks of kidnapping
Senator Van Hollen spoke of a kidnapping in the Ábrego case. The government's lawyer had spoken of an administrative error, but this error had led to the father of the family being abducted from the streets in the state of Maryland and sent to a prison in El Salvador, said the senator. It was about protecting the constitutional rights of everyone living in the US, he said. "When you deny constitutional rights to one man, you threaten the constitutional rights and due process for everyone else in America."
The Democrat had published a photo of the meeting with Ábrego on the X platform. It shows the two of them sitting at a table with a few glasses of water and coffee in front of them. Later, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele posted on X: "Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously resurrected from "death camps" & "torture", is now sipping margaritas with Senator Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!" US President Donald Trump was also later asked about the alleged margaritas.
Senator clears up "Margarita-gate"
Van Hollen explained that he wanted to clear up "Margarita-gate". He had been drinking water with the detainee when a government employee placed glasses on the table that looked as if they were filled with margaritas. Neither he nor Ábrego had drunk any of it. However, the impression was created because the prisoner's glass was less full. It was therefore intended to look as if he had drunk from it.
Trump calls senator "moron" and "busybody"
Van Hollen had personally traveled to the authoritarian-ruled El Salvador to campaign for Ábrego's return to the USA. Van Hollen and other critics accuse the government of disregarding court orders. After the meeting, US President Trump described Van Hollen as a "fool" and a "pompous ass" who wanted to "beg" for the attention of the "fake news" in El Salvador.
Trump's government is coming under increasing pressure because courts consider the man's deportation to be unlawful. A federal judge ordered the US government to bring the man back. The case has since landed before the US Supreme Court - and the legal battle has continued ever since.
