The Trump administration this week escalated its efforts to portray the Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador as a gang member with a violent history who they say is “never coming back” to the United States.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he hopes to meet with officials in El Salvador to discuss Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported from the United States last month, told a visiting U.S. senator that he was moved from a notorious Salvadoran prison to a detention center with better conditions — a statement made during a meeting that the American lawmaker said was staged by the Central American country’s government to make it look like a retreat.