A Republican lawmaker was granted access to El Salvador’s notorious super-prison, while a Democratic senator’s request to visit detained U.S. citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia was denied by President Nayib Bukele‘s government.

Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia’s 2nd District shared photos from inside El Salvador’s high-security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Wednesday.

Why It Matters

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen also visited El Salvador on Wednesday to call for Abrego Garcia’s release. The Salvadoran government denied Van Hollen’s request to meet with his constituent. However, Bukele’s government appeared to approve Moore’s request to visit the facility.

Abrego Garcia’s deportation has become a central issue in the national debate on immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump, who has vowed to implement the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.

Abrego Garcia is currently being detained at the facility designed to detain suspected gang members as part of President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on organized crime.

What To Know

“I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland,” Moore wrote in a post on social media.

Sen. Van Hollen said El Salvador’s vice president informed him that a visit was not possible. He also said the man was being kept in the prison because the Trump administration is paying them to keep deportees detained.

“I asked the vice-president if I could meet with Mr Ábrego García. And he said, well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit Cecot,” Van Hollen said at a press conference. “I said, I’m not interested at this moment in taking a tour of Cecot, I just want to meet with Mr Ábrego García. He said he was not able to make that happen,” Van Hollen added.

The Trump administration claims that Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, but he has not been formally charged with any crime. His legal team maintains that there is no evidence to support the allegations of gang involvement.

The Maryland resident was deported to El Salvador last month due to what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later admitted was an “administrative error,” prompting backlash from critics of the Trump administration.

The case drew international attention this week during Bukele’s visit to Washington, just days after the U.S. Supreme Court made a unanimous ruling instructing the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. However, the White House has argued the decision does not supersede the president’s authority in foreign affairs.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued a ruling following a statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ), which indicated it was “prepared to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s presence in the United States” if he arrives at a port of entry.

The DOJ stated that if Abrego Garcia entered the country, he would be subject to detention by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and could either be deported to a third country or sent back to El Salvador.

Judge Xinis questioned the Trump administration’s refusal to repatriate Abrego Garcia from the CECOT facility, despite a Supreme Court ruling demanding his return to the U.S. During the hearing, the judge noted that she would require sworn testimony from Trump administration officials to confirm whether they had complied with her order regarding the detained man’s return.

Xinis emphasized the unequivocal nature of the Supreme Court’s ruling, asserting that it was clear in its instruction to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. She also dismissed recent claims by both Trump and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who had suggested that repatriating Abrego Garcia from CECOT was not possible.

What People Are Saying

Rep. Riley M. Moore said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “I just toured the CECOT prison in El Salvador. This maximum security facility houses the country’s most brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists. Several inmates were extremely violent criminals recently deported from the U.S. I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland.”

Van Hollen said in a statement: “It should be a priority of the U.S. government to secure his safe release.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Based on the sensationalism of many of the people in this room, you would think we deported a candidate for Father of the Year.”

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday: “How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”

What Happens Next

Abrego Garcia’s legal team will continue fighting for his release while the government maintains that Abrego Garcia is affiliated with MS-13, an allegation his legal team denies.