U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced his plans to travel to El Salvador on Wednesday as the Trump administration continues to delay the return of a Maryland father who was wrongly deported and is being held in prison.

Van Hollen said in a statement Tuesday he hopes to meet with 29-year-old Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to check on his well-being and plans to meet with government officials to discuss his release.

“We must urgently continue working to return Kilmar safely home to Maryland,” Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen made the announcement of his travel plan on Tuesday evening at a town hall with U.S. Congresswoman April McClain Delaney in Hagerstown.

In response to a question about the Trump administration’s deportation of immigrants, McClain Delaney said Supreme Court and district court rulings ordering Abrego Garcia’s return must be enforced.

“How?” members of the audience shouted.

Van Hollen then said, in a seemingly unplanned announcement, “I am planning tomorrow to go to El Salvador.”

The crowd of several hundred, some hoisting signs in support of Abrego Garcia, erupted in applause and gave the Maryland senator a standing ovation.

On March 15, immigration authorities deported the Beltsville man to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador, which lawmakers described as “heinous” and known for torturing inmates. Abrego Garcia fled the country at age 16 to escape threats of gang violence, murder and extortion. A U.S. immigration judge granted him legal protection from deportation in 2019, a protection that has since been reversed under the Trump administration.

A federal judge in Maryland questioned the Trump administration Tuesday about its continued refusal to retrieve Abrego Garcia from the prison, even after the Supreme Court ordered his return to the U.S.

The hearing in a U.S. District Court comes a day after White House advisers repeated the claim that they lack the authority to bring back the Salvadoran national from his native country.

The president of El Salvador also said Monday that he would not return Abrego Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”

Van Hollen had requested a meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele during his visit to the U.S. this week. His office had not immediately responded to questions about whether that meeting took place.

Van Hollen requested the meeting after the U.S. Supreme Court determined Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.