Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen reacted to reports that “Maryland Man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been returned to the U.S., where he will stand trial for alleged human trafficking seen in this 2022 police bodycam video released by the Trump administration. “Now Abrego Garcia will have a chance to fight his case in a court of law instead of being banished overnight into a gulag in El Salvador,,” Van Hollen said Friday on CNN.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well, Anderson, I just learned that as well and obviously, it raises questions about the Trump administration’s approach in this case. Of course, from the very beginning, the Trump administration has ignored the law. I think overall, the story today is a good news story for due process and the Constitution, after all, as you were just reporting for months, the Trump administration has thumbed its nose at the Constitution. They’ve ignored a nine to zero Supreme Court order, so they relented today. They brought him back, and now Abrego Garcia will have a chance to fight his case in a court of law instead of being banished overnight into a gulag in El Salvador, he’ll finally have a chance to talk to his lawyers. He hasn’t had that chance since he was taken away. I’m the only person who had spoken to him. So yes, there are big questions to be raised about why this individual in the U.S. Attorneys’ Office resigned, but let’s focus on the fact that for now, that the Trump administration said they’d never allow him to come back to the United States, he is now back, and he now at least has a chance in a court of law, something that the Trump administration should have pursued from the beginning. … I’m not vouching for the man, Abrego Garcia. This is not about him. It is about his constitutional rights and I think we all recognize that if the Trump administration can trample over his constitutional rights, it’s a very short road to tyranny when they can essentially put all of our constitutional rights in jeopardy. So, that is why I think so many of us and I’ve been focused on this case, because it is a clear early example of the Trump administration’s efforts to ignore the Constitution and at least until today, ignore a nine to zero decision from the Supreme Court. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN: I want to read a part of a statement released by the White House, they said, in part: “The Democrat lawmakers, namely Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen and every single so-called journalist who defended this illegal criminal abuser, must immediately apologize to Garcia’s victims.” Your response to that? VAN HOLLEN: You know, I will never apologize for defending the Constitution. In fact, it’s the Trump administration on all his cronies who should apologize to the country for putting us through this unnecessary situation, and to Abrego Garcia for putting him through this situation and his family. All I have said from the beginning is that the Trump administration should respect the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States. So really, it’s President Trump who should apologize to the country for violating his oath to the Constitution. I’m glad in this moment, there are finally doing what the Supreme Court said. But they continue, Anderson, to violate the Constitution in many, many other cases.

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