Democrat Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to secure the return of Kilmer Abrego Garcia, an illegal exiled alien, but six individuals familiar with congressional travel told the daily callers.

Three senators and one former aide said they consider the trip to be a member of Congress (Codel), referring to official overseas visits by Congressional members and their staff. Such trips are paid for with federal resources.

“It’s hanging out,” said one high-level Senate aide when asked if taxpayers believed they would step on the Van Hollen travel bill.

A former senior council aide said, “I doubt the senator has been paid from the office. [Member’s Representational Allowance] Or you will be paid personally and refunded as an “official trip” fee. ”

Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday morning and bid to get the country’s government to release Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to Secott Prison despite an immigration judge issued tax withheld for removal in 2019.

Court documents and a gang field interview sheet released by the Department of Justice show that when Abrego Garcia was first greeted by police in 2019, he was with two other ranking members of the MS-13, meaning he was a member of the gang and identified as a member of the MS-13 by a trusted confidential informant. Two immigration judges in 2019 agreed to the government’s assessment that Abrego Garcia was a “confirmed member” of the gang, poses a risk to the public. (Related: DOJ releases alleged documents about MS-13 gang ty in Maryland, where DOJ has been deported)

Additional information about Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been released.https://t.co/rbzkfvuraf

– Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@agpambondi) April 16, 2025

“If I had to bet, this trip was funded with taxpayer dollars. Nonetheless, it’s insane that Democrats are more concerned about illegal immigrant gang members being sent home than their members’ safety,” said one Senate aide.

Van Hollen failed to meet and call Abrego Garcia while in El Salvador. The senator said he was able to meet with the vice president of El Salvador.

Salvadoran President Naive Buquere called the idea “idiot” in an oval office meeting with President Donald Trump earlier this week, claiming he had no intention of returning Abrego Garcia to the United States. (Related: “No way to happen”: President El Salvador says he hasn’t shipped back to us MS-13 gang members)

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Van Hollen’s little PR stunt was actually paid by hardworking Americans to support illegal aliens,” another Senate aide said. “Democrats like Van Hollen are furious about deportation that is more legitimate than the horrific crime committed by criminal offences in the United States, but this small trip is a perfect example of why Americans have overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his common sense immigration policy.

Senator Ted Cruz addressed the issue of fundraising for Van Hollen’s trip in the edition of Wednesday’s “Verification” podcast.

“It’s one of the privileges of being in the Senate, being able to travel internationally on official trips, and each senator can decide where he or she wants to go,” Cruz said of the taxpayer-funded trip. “And that should be related to your work, especially for people like Van Hollen and Murphy, who both serve with me on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Cruz continued. “Well, can Democrats travel to El Salvador if they want to? Is that part reasonably their job? I think it’s an amazingly bad policy, and an amazingly bad politics.”

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.

A familiar individual told callers that committee chairperson approval is usually necessary for members to go to official parliamentary delegations.

A spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told the speaker that Sen. Jim Rich, the chairman of the committee, did not approve Van Hollen’s trip, but pointed out that other committees and Senate leaders, including Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer, have the authority to approve foreign travel, so Van Hollen must have found another way.

Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia said in a letter request Their own coder for a trip to El Salvador, the Senate “already approved a Cordle trip to CECOT.”

Van Hollen said he would not stop fighting for his “components” and said he called Abrego Garcia “American citizen” on Tuesday. His staff later said he was “misspoke” and intended to refer to the wife of Abrego Garcia, born in the United States.

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to multiple inquiries from callers regarding funding for the trip.

According to court documents, Abrego Garcia’s wife previously filed two domestic violence protection orders against him. Get By independent journalist Andy Ngo.

While Van Hollen was in El Salvador, the White House held a special press conference with Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother who was killed by illegal foreigners. Morin pointed out that Van Hollen issued a press release after her daughter’s death but never called her to express her sympathy or met with Rachel’s family.

Morin said she was rage “A Maryland senator who refused or barely admitted the brutal death of my daughter and her who endured and left five children without a mother chose “to use my taxes to fly to El Salvador and bring back the Americans… not even American citizens.”