Van Hollen does a ‘full Ginsburg’; more Democrats head to El Salvador, and a Republican, too

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) achieved a rare feat on Easter, when he appeared on all five network Sunday talk shows: “Face the Nation,” “State of the Union,” “Meet the Press,” “Fox News Sunday” and “This Week” on the same day.

It’s known as doing a “full Ginsburg,” named for William H. Ginsburg, who was serving as the attorney for then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky when he became the first person known to have completed the circuit on a single day.

Van Hollen’s TV appearances came just days after his return from El Salvador, where he met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant from Beltsville who was erroneously deported last month and sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported, and ordered federal officials to “facilitate” his return. But Trump administration officials, who claim Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, have not made any effort to bring Abrego Garcia stateside. They argue that the U.S., which is paying El Salvador $6 milllion to hold deportees, does not have the authority to do so since he’s in Salvadoran custody; Salvadorans have said they don’t have the authority to return him to the U.S.

During his appearances Sunday, Van Hollen challenged Trump officials to “put up or shut up” in court, bringing Abrego Garcia back to face charge here instead of spreading allegations about him on social media. Van Hollen said there is no evidence that Abrego Garcia committed any crime, and that the discussion about possible gang ties is merely a distraction.

“I am not defending the man. I’m defending the rights of this man to due process,” Van Hollen said on ABC’s “This Week.”

In their brief meeting Thursday, Abrego Garcia said he has been traumatized by the experience, Van Hollen said, and that he misses his family, including his 5-year-old son who has autism, and was in the car with his father at the time of his arrest.

Several hosts asked Van Hollen whether he’d walked into a trap by visiting Abrego Garcia, who appeared in plain clothes at a hotel to meet with the senator, with cold drinks on the table. As the meeting was taking place, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele was posting photos on social media claiming that Abrego Garcia was “now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.”

“All of that was a setup. Their people ordered the waiters to bring these things that look like margaritas,” Van Hollen said on ABC. “It just goes to show the lengths that Bukele and Trump will go to try to deceive people about what this case is all about.”

Greetings from El Salvador

While he was in El Salvador for several days last week, trying to see Abrego Garcia, Van Hollen warned repeatedly that it didn’t matter if the Bukele administration denied him a visit because while he might have been the first member of Congress to visit the country, he would not be the last.

It appears he was right about that.

Van Hollen’s trip appears to have opened the flood gates. Four House Democrats said they made the trip this week: freshmen Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon, and second-term Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Maxwell Frost of Florida.

They had returned to the U.S. by Tuesday, but while in El Salvador had written U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding regular check-ins with Abrego Garcia, as well as access to an attorney for him and a renewed effort to bring him back to the U.S. They also demanded access to another U.S. deportee being held in El Salvador, Venezuelan refugee Andry José Hernández Romero.

The trip, which they were careful to note was not taxpayer-funded, came after Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, rejected a request from Frost and Garcia for an official congressional delegation to visit CECOT, the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo where Abrego Garcia was being held until his transfer last week.

Comer called the request “absurd.”

But those four may not be the last to make the El Salvador run: Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-4th), whose district includes Beltsville, where Abrego Garcia lived, has said he plans to travel to the Central American nation as well. Ivey, who wrote on X that he intends to take his trip in early May, also led a letter last week from 150 Democrats to President Donald Trump asking for updates on the efforts to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S.

It’s not just Democrats. House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) visited CECOT last week to take a swipe at Democrats. And the National Republican Congressional Committee, seeing what it believes is a winning strategy for the GOP, offered — tongue in cheek, presumably — to pay for any Democrats who wanted to make the trip.