U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Sunday that the country faces a “constitutional crisis” as the Trump administration continues to defy court orders to bring home Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was deported without a hearing and now sits in an El Salvador prison.

“The courts have said facilitating his return means something more than doing nothing,” Van Hollen told Kristen Welker, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Van Hollen appeared on five Sunday talk shows following his whirlwind trip to El Salvador last week to check on the well-being of Abrego Garcia, who was whisked away to a notorious prison in that country. Although the senator met with Abrego Garcia, the 29-year-old remains imprisoned there, though he was moved to another detention center.

The morning news show hosts all pressed Van Hollen on his fact-finding mission, including the Trump administration’s claims that Abrego Garcia has violent gang connections. Van Hollen was also asked about an unrelated case of a Maryland woman slain by a Salvadoran fugitive.

The senator repeatedly stressed that his trip was about defending the rule of law and that the allegations about Abrego Garcia should be properly adjudicated in court, not on social media.

“If you threaten the rule of law for one person, you threaten it for everyone,” the Maryland Democrat said on Fox News on Sunday.

Host Shannon Bream, an attorney, asked Van Hollen whether he had asked Abrego Garcia during their meeting about possible gang affiliations. He said he hadn’t, that he knew his constituent, who is married and has three children, had denied the accusations.

“I’m not vouching for the individual,” Van Hollen said. “I’m vouching for his rights under the Constitution.”

He also read verbatim from a ruling by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that blasted the administration for producing “no evidence linking Abrego Garcia to MS-13 or to any other terrorist activity.”

Trump is trying to “change the subject” with these talking points, Van Hollen said.

“The subject at hand is that he and his administration are defying a court order to give Abrego Garcia his due process rights,” Van Hollen told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

High court says U.S. must ‘facilitate’ return

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Trump administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S., and an administration lawyer has admitted in court filings that he was deported due to an “administrative error.”

Another judge had granted Abrego Garcia “withholding of removal” status based on fears he would face persecution from local gangs if he were deported to his native El Salvador.

Trump, meanwhile, has doubled down on sending Abrego Garcia to a notorious prison known for human rights abuses. The president on Friday called Van Hollen a “fake,” and statements from the White House indicate officials have no intention of facilitating Abrego Garcia’s return.

Posts about Van Hollen’s trip and accusations against Abrego Garcia have dominated the official White House social media account. The White House posted a marked-up image of a New York Times headline that stated Abrego Garcia would “never be coming back.”

Asked by CBS’ Weijia Jiang on “Face the Nation” whether it was fair to say Abrego Garcia wouldn’t be returning as long as Trump is president, Van Hollen replied, “No, because the Supreme Court of the United States and the other courts have said that the administration has to facilitate his return. As of right now, they are in defiance of that court order.”

While Van Hollen was in El Salvador, the mother of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old mother of five from Maryland who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran fugitive in the country illegally, criticized Van Hollen from the White House press room and held a photo availability with Trump in the Oval Office.

Patty Morin questioned why Van Hollen would go to such lengths “to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do or my daughter?”

Van Hollen expressed his sympathy to the Morin family during several interviews and in a statement last week.

“They suffered, experienced an unspeakable tragedy,” he said on “Meet the Press,” adding that he was glad Rachel Morin’s killer had been brought to justice in court, the place to exercise due process rights and hold guilty people accountable.

“I’m not sure why Abrego Garcia’s rights should be denied based on an awful murder that he had absolutely nothing to do with,” Van Hollen added.

‘They felt the pressure’

Van Hollen returned to the United States on Friday after traveling to El Salvador to check on the welfare of Abrego Garcia, a Beltsville man swept up in the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts.

The Salvadoran government initially denied Van Hollen’s repeated requests and blocked him from traveling to a notorious mega-prison where it was believed Abrego Garcia was being held but then allowed the meeting to take place. The men spoke for more than 30 minutes at a table in the senator’s hotel.

“They had no intention of letting me meet with Abrego Garcia until they felt the pressure,” Van Hollen said.

According to Van Hollen’s account of their conversation, Abrego Garcia was arrested by law enforcement in Maryland and denied a phone call after being taken to Baltimore. He was then handcuffed, shackled and put on a plane with others. He was not told where he was going and was not able to see out the airplane windows.

Van Hollen had unsuccessfully sought to meet with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, during the Central American leader’s trip to the U.S. last week. Bukele and Trump, during an Oval Office news conference, both claimed they did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

The senator has promised to continue fighting for Abrego Garcia’s return, and other members of Congress have declared their intentions to travel to El Salvador to push for his release.

During Friday’s news conference, Van Hollen said his trip was “the first step to ultimately bringing him home as the Constitution requires.”