Van Hollen, 66, got his start in politics as a staffer for former Maryland U.S. Sen. Charles Mathias in the 1980s, going on to staff the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and, later, Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen has met in El Salvador with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.