Sen. Chris Van Hollen says America is in a ‘constitutional crisis’ as Trump disregards court orders in the Abrego Garcia case

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on Sunday accused President Donald Trump of sending the U.S. into a constitutional crisis, saying members of the Trump administration “are very much flouting the courts as we speak.”

Asked directly on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” whether the U.S. is currently in a constitutional crisis, Van Hollen said, “Yes, we are.”

The senator’s remarks come days after he returned from a trip to El Salvador where he met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump administration admitted was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month.

Abrego Garcia has become the center of a weekslong legal and political battle, with the government multiple times contending in court that Abrego Garcia is now in the custody of El Salvador and there’s nothing it can do to bring him back.

That is the argument members of the Trump administration are making in court filings and in public statements, also alleging that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have insisted that he was never convicted of any crimes.

Meanwhile, Democrats like Van Hollen are citing due process concerns, arguing Abrego Garcia did not have a chance to dispute his deportation before he was removed to El Salvador.

So far, courts are siding with Democrats and Abrego Garcia’s legal team, with an appeals court on Thursday rejecting a bid by the Trump administration to block an order that directed the government to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Trump administration was trying to claim “a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process.”

That decision came days after the Supreme Court, in an unsigned decision, ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from the Salvadoran prison and his return to the U.S.

“Donald Trump and his administration need to put up or shut up in court,” Van Hollen told moderator Kristen Welker on Sunday, accusing members of the administration of “litigating this through social media.”

The Maryland senator cited a judge’s comments about the lack of evidence of Abrego Garcia’s ties to the MS-13 gang, saying, “If you have evidence, take it to the court. That’s where we litigate these things, and otherwise just shut up on social media.”

Later in the program, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., acknowledged that the Trump administration’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia was a “screw-up,” but added that there’s not much the president can do now.

“I understand why the administration is bowed up and said, ‘We won’t admit it’s a mistake,’ because if they do, they’ll have their throats torn out,” Kennedy told Welker.

Still, Kennedy maintained that Abrego Garcia did have due process and added that he wasn’t sure what the courts could force Trump to do now to bring him back.

“What does he expect Trump to do?” Kennedy asked, referring to 4th Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III.

“I mean, [Trump] brought [Salvadoran president Nayib] Bukele to America. President Bukele sat in the Oval Office in front of God and country and said, ‘I’m not sending this guy back.’ So, I don’t know what Judge Wilkinson expects Trump to do,” Kennedy said.

Van Hollen, who joined “Meet the Press” before Kennedy, maintained that Abrego Garcia had no due process before he was deported, arguing that it would be a slippery slope to allow the Trump administration to deny due process to Abrego Garcia.

“This is not about one man. If you deny the constitutional rights of one man, you threaten the constitutional rights for everybody,” Van Hollen said.