When Democrats like Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) talk about “compassion,” what they really seem to mean is bending over backward to defend illegal immigrants—especially the ones with violent ties.
Case in point: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an MS-13 gang member deported under President Trump’s administration. But if you’re watching the senator’s recent media blitz, you’d think he was defending a political prisoner, not a known associate of one of the most violent transnational criminal organizations on the planet.
Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners.
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) August 2, 2017
Van Hollen didn’t just release a sympathetic statement—he flew all the way to El Salvador to meet with this man. A gang member. A non-citizen. A criminal. And yet, the senator used taxpayer time and likely taxpayer dollars to play human rights activist for someone who had no right to be in this country in the first place.
What makes this saga even more ridiculous is that Van Hollen himself was warning about MS-13 not too long ago. Back in 2017, he posted about the gang’s threat on social media, saying we should focus on MS-13 “not scholarship winners.”
Thank you for the advice senator. We’ve deported MS-13 gang members from your state. Awaiting your applause on that. https://t.co/CvSpp6dQeD
— Alex Pfeiffer (@Pfeiffer47) April 22, 2025
Fast forward eight years, and he’s now cozying up to an actual MS-13 member, calling him “Maryland man” and defending his “constitutional rights.”
Let’s be clear: the Constitution protects citizens—not illegal immigrants, not gang members, and certainly not those deported for a reason. Yet Van Hollen is parroting the usual open-borders nonsense about “due process” for someone who was never legally here to begin with.
Wait…aren’t you the guy that just went to try and save the MS13 guy? https://t.co/prHIxZZtfF
— Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) April 22, 2025
When CNN’s Dana Bash pressed him about Abrego Garcia’s gang ties, Van Hollen dodged like a seasoned Beltway bureaucrat. He couldn’t—or wouldn’t—say whether the man he’s been defending is in fact a member of MS-13, instead defaulting to what the gang member claims. That’s rich. We’re supposed to believe a known criminal over U.S. immigration officials and law enforcement?
