An insider has since spoken out about the photographs
The President of El Salvador has taken to Twitter to share images of Kilmar Armando Ábrego García having ‘miraculously risen’ from out of the ‘world’s worst prison’.
Since Donald Trump became 47th President of the US, he enacted mass deportations which have seen over 250 alleged criminals sent to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) – considered the ‘world’s worst prison’ – in El Salvador.
Last month, a man named Kilmar Armando Ábrego García, from Maryland, was sent to there by mistake, with Trump’s administration admitting his deportation was due to an ‘admin error’.
The Supreme Court has since ruled that it must ‘facilitate’ Ábrego García’s return, however, the husband and dad wasn’t released.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen later spoke out, alleging he’d been barred from seeing or speaking to Ábrego García too, according to The Independent. He has since revealed hours later he was eventually able sit down with him at a hotel in San Salvador.
And the first public images of Ábrego García since his deportation have been shared online.
Senator Van Hollen shared an image to social media of himself and Ábrego García seated at a table.
The photograph shows the pair deep in conversation, sat at a table with glasses of water, a bottle of water and two mugs.
Van Hollen’s caption reads: “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. 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.”
However, the senator’s sharing of the image from the meeting differ greatly to the post shared by El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele.
Bukele took to Twitter earlier today to share three more bright and colorful images of Van Hollen and Ábrego García’s meeting – one image even showing what appears to be two cocktail glasses with cherries on top.
The caption reads: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”
However, a person ‘familiar with the situation’ has since revealed the alleged truth behind the margarita glasses.
Senator Chris Van Hollen met with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (X/ChrisVanHollen)
Nayib Bukele’s images of Ábrego García
A source told The New York Times the cocktail glasses were actually placed as a prop by a Bukele aide as part of a staged photo.
Bukele reshared his post adding: “Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody.”
White House spokesperson Kush Desai has called the visit ‘disgusting’ slamming Van Hollen for ‘establishing the Democrats as the party whose top priority is the welfare of an illegal alien MS-13 terrorist,’ as quoted by the BBC.
“It is truly disgusting. President Trump will continue to stand on the side of law-abiding Americans,” he added.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!🍹
However, Van Hollen previously detailed to press: “The courts of the United States have said there’s no evidence to support the charge that [Ábrego García] is part of MS13 [an international criminal gang].”
Bukele claims he is being paid by the US government to hold the detainees – with the New York Times reporting a fee of $6 million.
When asked by a reporter yesterday whether or not he’d act on the Supreme Court’s ruling for his administration to ‘facilitate’ Ábrego García’s return to the US, Trump said: “Well, I’m not involved. You’ll have to speak to the lawyers, the D.O.J.”
