Trump calls Democrat Sen. Van Hollen 'grandstander' for meeting with deported Salvadoran migrant

President Donald Trump on Friday called Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen a "grandstander" after meeting in El Salvador with a former resident of his state who has become the focal point of legal debate on deportation.

"Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone," Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. "GRANDSTANDER!!!"

The deported man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, entered the U.S. illegally and was subject to possible deportation. But in 2019, an immigration judge granted him a withholding of removal order, issued over concerns he would be persecuted if he returned to his country of origin.

The Trump administration has argued Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang and that he was mistakenly deported. The issue is being decided in courts – with the question of whether Abrego Garcia was given due legal process before being part of a mass deportation last month to an El Salvador prison at issue.

Van Hollen on Thursday met with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, after initially being denied. 

"I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar," Van Hollen wrote on the social media platform, X. "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."

The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to work on getting Garcia, a Salvadoran national, back to the U.S. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele says he won't release Garcia back to the U.S.