A Maryland congressman spent his Memorial Day weekend fighting for Democrats’ favorite MS-13 gang member—instead of honoring U.S. military veterans.
Maryland Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat, said he was barred from seeing his “constituent,” the Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, in El Salvador on Monday. Ivey flew there to conduct a welfare check on the “Maryland man” who made national headlines after he was deported to his home country in March.
Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien with ties to the MS-13 gang and had several run-ins with police between 2019 and 2022. He associated with known MS-13 gang members, wore gang-affiliated clothing, and has tattoos representing the MS-13 gang, according to a news release by DHS and police reports.
Police records, along with handwritten statements and audio recordings by Abrego Garcia’s wife, show she sought multiple protective orders against him for domestic violence. During a traffic stop by Tennessee Highway Patrol in 2022, he was suspected of human or labor trafficking but released under the Biden administration’s lax immigration policies.
Abrego Garcia admitted to illegally entering the United States around 2011 and had no basis for seeking asylum. Two judges determined he is likely to be a member of MS-13 and could be deported to a third country.
Still, Democratic lawmakers have made him a poster child for “due process” and demanded his return to the U.S.
WTOP News Maryland reports Ivey returned to Dulles International Airport on Tuesday, criticizing the Salvadoran government for denying his request to meet with Abrego Garcia in an El Salvador prison.
“The Salvadoran government knew we were coming to see him,” Ivey told reporters. “We notified their embassy in Washington, local officials, and our own ambassador to the country. Yet, they shut us out.”
Ivey spoke to reporters in the international arrivals area, noting Abrego Garcia isn’t the only person being inappropriately detained. He said 250 Venezuelans who were deported from the U.S. are now in jails in El Salvador.
More recently, a group of deportees with criminal records including murder were headed to South Sudan until a judge filed an injunction to stop it. And activist judges have blocked the Trump administration from carrying out mass deportations.
“We don’t know the terms, we don’t know the conditions, we don’t know how much the United States is paying to have these people detained in jails overseas or how these jail sites are being selected,” Ivey told reporters upon his return to the U.S.
Fox 45 News Baltimore reports Ivey claims he made a formal request through a U.S. ambassador to the Salvadoran government for the visit but when they arrived, officials told him that he would need to go to San Salvador to get a permit.
Eric Daugherty, Assistant News Director @FLVoiceNews, posted the video message on X and wrote: “Democratic Rep. Glenn Ivey FURIOUS after being TURNED AWAY from trying to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. ‘I’m the Congressman that represents Kilmar. I came all the way down from the United States…and now they’re telling us we got to go all the way back to San Salvador to get a permit. That’s ridiculous!’”
Ivey made his own post on X on Monday: “Today, I was denied access to seeing my constituent, Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If there is nothing to hide, cut the crap. Let his lawyer and I check on him.
Today, I was denied access to seeing my constituent, Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If there is nothing to hide, cut the crap. Let his lawyer and I check on him.
@CASAforall pic.twitter.com/V310GDmIc4— Rep. Glenn Ivey (@RepGlennIvey) May 26, 2025
In the video, Ivey is shown with his lawyer and a union representative and says:
“We ought to have a chance to come in and visit. They knew we were coming. They knew why we were coming. And they know we have the right to do this. So, they need to just cut the crap.”
Ivey’s attempt to meet with Abrego Garcia comes after Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen met with him in April to check on his well-being.
Immigration advocates and lawyers jumped on his case after he was deported back to this home country of El Salvador. On March 12, 2025, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At the time, ICE said that his deportation was a result of an “administrative error.”
President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice continue to say that Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, which has been deemed a terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers and family members deny those claims and say he has no criminal record.
Abrego Garcia was moved from the high-security mega-prison Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to a lower-security prison in Santa Ana. Both a federal judge and the Supreme Court have ruled that the Trump Administration must “facilitate” his return.
However, El Salvador president Nayib Bukele, who has taken a hardline approach to gang members in his country, said he has no authority to return a terrorist to the United States.
