Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Trip To El Salvador Likely Paid For By Taxpayers, Senate Aides Say

Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador to try to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported illegal alien, was likely funded by taxpayers, six individuals familiar with congressional travel tell the Daily Caller.

Three Senate aides and one former aide told the Caller that they believe the trip was likely a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL), which refers to an official visit abroad by members of Congress and their staff. Such trips are paid for with federal government resources.

“Gotta be,” said one high-level Senate aide when asked if they believe taxpayers foot the bill for Van Hollen’s travel.

A former senior congressional aide said, “Zero doubt the Senator either paid out of the office MRA [Member’s Representational Allowance] or paid personally and will get reimbursed as an ‘official travel’ expense.”

Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday morning in a bid to get the country’s government to release Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the CECOT prison despite an immigration judge issuing a withholding of removal in 2019 after the Salvadoran national said he feared he would be targeted by Barrio 18, a Salvadorian gang that is a rival to MS-13, if he were returned to his home country.

Court documents and a Gang Field Interview Sheet released by the Department of Justice indicate that when Abrego Garcia was first picked up by police in 2019 he was with two other ranking members of MS-13, wore clothing that signified he was a gang member, and was identified as a member of MS-13 by a trusted confidential informant. Two immigration judges in 2019 agreed with the government’s assessment that Abrego Garcia posed a danger to the public and was a “verified member” of the gang. (RELATED: DOJ Releases Dossier Of Deported Maryland Man’s Alleged MS-13 Gang Ties) 

We are releasing additional information on Kilmar Abrego Garcia.https://t.co/RbZkFvuRaf

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) April 16, 2025

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

Van Hollen was unsuccessful in meeting or having a phone call with Abrego Garcia while he was in El Salvador. The senator said he was able to meet with the vice president of El Salvador, who allegedly told him “he was not able to make that happen.”

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele asserted in an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump earlier this week that he has no intention of returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S., calling the idea “preposterous.” (RELATED: ‘Not Gonna Happen’: El Salvadoran President Says He Is Not Shipping Alleged MS-13 Gang Member Back To US) 

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Van Hollen’s little PR stunt to support an illegal alien was actually paid for by hardworking Americans,” another Senate aide said. “Democrats like Van Hollen are more outraged by a justified deportation than they are by horrific crimes committed by criminal illegals in the U.S. This little trip is a perfect example of why Americans overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his commonsense immigration policies. Van Hollen’s potentially taxpayer-funded trip might play well with radical liberals on the East and West Coast, but regular Americans just want to know whether they have to foot the bill.”

Senator Ted Cruz addressed the issue of funding for Van Hollen’s trip during Wednesday’s edition of his “Verdict” podcast.

“That’s one of the prerogatives of being in the Senate, is that you can travel internationally on official travel, and each senator can make a determination of where he or she wants to go,” Cruz said of taxpayer-funded trips. “And it should be related to your responsibilities, related to your work, but particularly for someone like Van Hollen or Murphy. They both serve with me on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and so that, in and of itself, gives you a significant justification to travel abroad work-related.”

Cruz continued, “So, look, can the Democrats travel to El Salvador if they want, and is that part, reasonably, of their work? Yes, but what they’re doing is traveling there in order to highlight, ‘We want to bring this illegal immigrant whom two courts have found as an MS-13 member, back to America.’ That’s astonishingly bad policy, and I think astonishingly bad politics.”

A committee chair’s approval is typically needed for a member to go on an official congressional delegation, individuals familiar tell the Caller.

A spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told the Caller that committee chair Sen. Jim Risch did not approve Van Hollen’s trip, but noted that some other committees and Senate leadership — including Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have the power to approve foreign travel, so Van Hollen “must have found another way.”

Reps. Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia said in a letter requesting their own CODEL for a trip to El Salvador that the Senate “has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT.”

Van Hollen said he will not stop fighting for his “constituent” and referred to Abrego Garcia as an “American citizen” on Tuesday. His staff later said he “misspoke” and meant to refer to Abrego Garcia’s wife, who was born in the United States.

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Caller about the funding of his trip.

Abrego Garcia’s wife previously filed two domestic violence protection orders against him, according to court documents obtained by independent journalist Andy Ngo.

While Van Hollen was in El Salvador, the White House held a special press briefing with Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother murdered by an illegal alien. Morin noted that while Van Hollen issued a press release following her daughter’s death, he never called her to express sympathy nor did he meet with Rachel’s family.

Morin said she was outraged that “a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge — or barely acknowledged — my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother” opted to “use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn’t even an American citizen.”