Senator vows to go to El Salvador if Trump administration doesn’t return Maryland man

https://archive.is/8oC6p
Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Monday morning that he would take matters into his own hands later this week. Van Hollen, a Democrat representing Maryland, said in a statement that he had requested a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who is visiting the White House on Monday, to discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from an El Salvador mega-prison. And if Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Prince George’s County father, isn’t back by midweek, Van Hollen said he plans to travel to El Salvador “to check on his condition and discuss his release.”
- I don't think it will amount to much, but it's orders of magnitude more than anyone else is doing about it.
  
  Well we can't even be sure the guy is still alive at this point. Maybe the senator can at least find out more about that.
  
  $10 says they throw him in CECOT while he’s there
  
  They need to bring cameras and show us the conditions.
  
  Politics is all about gestures. I applaud everyone who stands up to Trump.
- Good luck to him. Godspeed
- Weird im reading on the "totally unbiased" tangle newsletter claiming hes being held in a louisiana prison?

Do we even know if the man is still alive? Is there at least representation on his behalf to do wellness check?
His family and friends must be stressed the fuck out.
- That’s what I’ve been speculating, he can’t be returned because he’s dead.
  
  You can return a body. I mean unless you can't find it or it's been destroyed. I wonder what they feed the prisoners.
  
  I don't think he's dead. Trump is using this as a test to see what he can get away with. If people let him do this, he knows he can deport and disappear anyone he wants. And he will.
- The news told me that Trump confirmed the man is alive
  I don't buy it either
  
  Like Donald said his health is fine.. I don’t believe that bs too.
- I worked in security in several places similar to El Sal. Ive visited three different terrorism-centered prisons in SA, and in each, once you enter general population, you are essentially lost. My experience is more Brazil and Venezuela. But I cant imagine its any different.
  EDIT: I dont mean lost like dead, i mean, its almoat impossible to track someone as there is very little organization.
  
  I bet you could walk into a room and yell out "raise your hand if your so and so".
  Look, we found them!
- The government represented that he was alive in a court filing on Friday or Saturday (I forget which).
  
  Ah yes the famously honest and straightforward Trump administration
  
  Which government? USA or El Salvador? I couldn't find anything, just Trump admin saying they will not comply with SCOTUS ruling.
  Russia at the very least provides "proof of life" videos of prisoners (ie, WNBA player, Brittney Griner, in 2022)

I guess at least someone has a little bit of backbone--though I doubt it will do any good whatsoever.

This is what American freedom fighters look like.

This guy may be volunteering to be another person who needs to be returned from El Salvador. The trip could go very badly for him.
- Forcing the issue before everyone has become numb to the possibility is the correct move.
- It's going to happen at some point, may as well arrest a sitting congressman now so US can get the ball rolling before republicans replace the voting machines.
- He's probably about as safe as anyone can be. A sitting US senator is among the most powerful people in the world.
  Would Trump gladly imprison Van Hollen in a foreign concentration camp? Absolutely.
  We're not there yet, and acts of resistance, no matter how small, are how we prevent us from getting there in the first place.
  
  trump led a violent insurrection to lynch his vice president and many other horrific things to congress. He experienced no consequences and has since pardoned his army.
  So no, being a politician isn't protection and pretending it is is just self delusion.
  
  This is on some prior world view that a sitting Senator would receive the full faith and backing of the US Government. That should anything ill befall them, there would a special kind of hell so furious to pay that world would balk.
  How do we think Trump would react if Van Hollen were taken into custody? Would he demand his return? Or would he reward Bukele?
  We can't live under previous assumptions we know no longer hold.
  
  We’re not there yet
  Maybe that’s only because the opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet? Guess we’ll find out mid-week. But the fact that this is even a possibility should terrify everyone.
  
  A sitting US senator is among the most powerful people in the world.
  Because the Senator is traditionally operating with the expectation of full federal support and protection.
  We’re not there yet, and acts of resistance, no matter how small, are how we prevent us from getting there in the first place.
  I mean, if Holden's going down there with a hundred marines and the intent of liberating Garcia by force, maybe. As it stands, the best case scenario is just a photo-op of him pounding on the bars. Hollen has no leverage, unless he's sitting on some corporate or neighboring civil interest that can titty-twist Bukele on his behalf.
- Let’s not forget the fate of Congressman Leo Ryan.
  
  That's where my mind went to, a member of Congress taking on themselves to fly to South America to investigate some weird shit going down there involving Americans maybe isn't the best move.
- Seems like someone finally willing to put shit on the line to do the right thing. Good for him.
- Yeah OK guy