The situation was tense on the Hill on Tuesday as Secretary of State Marco Rubio punched back after Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen expressed his regret for voting to confirm Rubio.
“I have to tell you directly in person that I regret voting for you for Secretary of State,” Van Hollen said.
“May I respond? Well first of all, your regret for voting for me means that I’m doing a good job,” Rubio replied.
“That’s just a flippant statement, Mr. Secretary,” Van Hollen said.
Then, Rubio unloaded and went after Van Hollen for visiting deported suspected MS-13 gangmember and human trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“We deported gang members … including the one that you had a margarita with,” Rubio continued. “And that guy is a human trafficker and that guy is a gangbanger and the evidence is gonna be clear. In the day to come, you’re gonna see who you went to defend.”
Watch the clip below:
MARCO RUBIO IS NOT IN THE MOOD FOR GAMES.
Best clip we've seen today so far.pic.twitter.com/IbxwWoa67B
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 20, 2025
From The Daily Caller:
Garcia, who illegally entered the U.S. from El Salvador in 2011, was found loitering in a Home Depot parking lot in March 2019, wearing “a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of the presidents on the separate denominations,” which represents a “good standing” with MS-13, according to documents released by the Department of Justice on April 16. In December 2019, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed Garcia’s challenge to an immigration judge’s finding that he is “a verified member of MS-13.”
Authorities suspected Garcia of human trafficking on a Tennessee highway in 2022 after they discovered he was transporting eight passengers with no apparent luggage. The car belonged to an illegal immigrant named Jose Ramon Hernandez-Reyes, who was sent to prison in 2020 for human smuggling.
The alleged gangbanger’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, sought a domestic violence restraining order against Garcia in 2021, according to court documents released by the Department of Homeland Security. She accused her husband of scratching and punching her eye, ripping her shirt and skirt off and making her bleed by throwing her laptop on the ground.
Despite all of the evidence against Garcia, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador to visit the alleged MS-13 member and was photographed sitting across from him at a restaurant. The senator confirmed on April 21 that his trip to visit Garcia was funded by U.S. taxpayers.
