WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Mike Collins claimed he changed Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s office name plaque to reflect the Democrat’s apparent allegiance to illegal migrants — demonstrated by his trip this week to El Salvador.
“Hey @ChrisVanHollen, I went ahead and changed your office plaque for you,” Collins (R-Ga.) wrote Friday on X alongside a photo appearing to show the Democrat’s plaque reflecting his constituency as “El Salvador.”
It was immediately unclear Saturday if the sign was physically altered or if it was a photoshopped image.
The post comes after Van Hollen (D-Md.) visited the central American country to help accused MS-13 member and illegal migrant Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, whom the Trump administration recently deported.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” Van Hollen posted to X on Thursday. “I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Collins earlier called that post “traitorous,” pointing out that this was “a sitting U.S. Senator consoling an MS-13 gang member.”
Abrego-Garcia illegally entered the US in 2011 and was issued a deportation order in 2019, but remained in the country against the law.
In 2022, he was suspected of human trafficking after he was seen speeding in Tennessee with eight individuals in the vehicle with no luggage — all of whom claimed to have lived at Abrego-Garcia’s address, according to Homeland Security Investigations.
But Democrats claim Abrego-Garcia was a hardworking Maryland man who should not have been deported.
The backlash against Van Hollen comes after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday brought the mother of a Maryland woman killed by a separate illegal migrant from El Salvador to the briefing room, where she told reporters her senator “barely acknowledged my daughter’s death.”
“I just don’t understand this,” said Patty Morin, whose daughter Rachel Morin was raped and murdered in 2023 by illegal migrant Victor Martinez-Hernandez.
“A senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge — or barely acknowledged — my daughter and the brutal death that she endured (chose to) use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person — who isn’t even an American citizen.”
“Why are we not protecting the American citizens? It’s just common sense. Why are we not protecting our children” she demanded.
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