Maryland Gov. Wes Moore 'not planning' to go to El Salvador to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Natalie Jones, Baltimore Sun on Apr 23, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gov. Wes Moore is “not planning” on traveling to El Salvador to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was mistakenly deported, he said Wednesday.

“This is not about immigration — this is about due process, and are we going to follow the Constitution or not?” he told reporters in Annapolis when asked about the case. “Are we going to follow the word of the Supreme Court or not? Because Donald Trump alone does not have say whether or not a person is guilty or not of a crime.”

Abrego Garcia needs to come home to stand trial, Moore said, and if he’s found guilty, he “can and he should be and will be held accountable” by a judge.

Moore’s criticism comes as President Trump’s administration has said the Salvadorian national is “not coming back to our country.”

The governor said he has spoken with Maryland U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador last week to meet with Abrego Garcia and check on his well-being, as well as the rest of the state’s congressional delegation and state government leaders, to discuss next steps.

“We are looking at all available options to ensure that due process is going to be followed by El Salvador,” Moore said.

The governor did not elaborate on what his administration is considering. Moore’s office did not respond to further questions about why he will not travel to El Salvador and what other options are being evaluated.

Since Van Hollen’s visit, four Democratic U.S. House members have traveled to El Salvador to push for Abrego Garcia’s release. Maryland’s U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey also plans to travel to Central America next month to check on the 29-year-old Prince George’s County sheet metal apprentice.

Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in mid-March due to what a Trump administration attorney called an “administrative error.” He was sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison.

In spite of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordering the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia and the Supreme Court telling the administration to “facilitate” his return, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said Abrego Garcia is “never coming back” to the U.S.

On social media, the Trump administration has characterized Abrego Garcia as a dangerous gang member, though its argument largely hinges on allegations in a 2019 “gang field interview sheet” from the Prince George’s County Police Department that officials say links him to MS-13. The integrity of that document, however, has faced public scrutiny since Bondi shared it in a post on X.

Since the Supreme Court’s action, Moore has maintained his stance that the president should provide Abrego Garcia the due process the Constitution requires.

“But, instead of taking action, Trump refused to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia and is now even threatening to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador,” he wrote in an April 14 post on X. “This situation is appalling, and I will not stand idly by as this administration disappears Americans to foreign prisons.”

Abrego Garcia has since been moved from CECOT, where he felt “traumatized,” to another prison farther from San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital city, Van Hollen told reporters in a Friday news conference.

In a Tuesday court filing, lawyers representing Abrego Garcia said Justice Department attorneys provided “nothing of substance” in response to requests for information on how the Trump administration is facilitating his return.

_________