WASHINGTON — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen formally welcomed Erick Oribio back to the U.S. on Tuesday, weeks after the Baltimore resident had been freed from detention in Venezuela.

The founder of Latin Opinion, a free, monthly Spanish-language newspaper, met with Maryland’s senior senator in his D.C. office.

Oribio had been detained by Venezuelan authorities since January along with his brother Ronald Oribio, and was freed in July with other Americans and legal permanent residents in a three-country prisoner swap.

Van Hollen, a Democrat, said he and a bipartisan team of senators worked with nonprofit hostage advocacy group the Foley Foundation, and special envoys from the Trump administration, to secure the release of the Americans wrongfully detained by President Nicolás Maduro.

“His only offense was being an American citizen in Venezuela,” Van Hollen said, after meeting with Oribio and speaking with reporters.

Thousands of miles from Venezuela and sitting on Van Hollen’s couch, Oribio expressed “deep gratitude” for everyone involved in getting him and his brother home.

Oribio has dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizenship, but said he considers himself a Baltimorean. He did not discuss the details of his ordeal, but said he was faring well physically and mentally.

He shared that one of the first things he did once he was back home was eat.

“Rice pudding from Greektown,” he said, and added that he also visited one of his favorite Venezuelan restaurants in Fells Point.

With him in Van Hollen’s office was his fiancee, Emma Dams, and her sons, Luis and Harold. The three had met with Van Hollen after Oribio’s detention to ask for help.

While Oribio was imprisoned, he said he had to try not to think about his family because it made his confinement harder.

Van Hollen described a determined but careful effort to bring the prisoners home. Activity happened “quietly, behind the scenes,” he said.

Senators communicating with the Trump administration, for example, were careful not to name the detainees in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“There was a real concern that if it became more public, then it would be harder,” he said.

As of May, the Department of State issued its strictest “do not travel” warning for Venezuela, saying there is “extreme danger” for American citizens and a “high risk” that they’ll be wrongfully detained.

The Oribio brothers and other Americans were freed as part of negotiations between the U.S., El Salvador and Venezuela.

The Americans held in Venezuela were exchanged for migrants shipped by the U.S. to El Salvador in March as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort. This is the same immigration roundup that sent Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran prison.

After the July prisoner exchange, Rubio thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for his partnership in getting the Americans home.

Van Hollen was at the forefront of opposing the Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia without a hearing, and drew national media attention when he traveled to El Salvador to check on his constituent and question his imprisonment.

Van Hollen then asserted that the federal government violated Abrego Garcia’s due process rights.

On Tuesday, Van Hollen said that even though Abrego Garcia is back in the U.S. facing human smuggling charges in a separate case, the ordeal remains “a deep, deep wound that the president has inflicted on our Constitution.”

Van Hollen said Abrego Garcia’s and Oribio’s cases were similar in some respects because both men were “wrongfully detained,” an issue he has consistently highlighted.

Baltimore Banner reporter Danny Zawodny contributed to this article.