Van Hollen Slams Biden Over His Handling of Israel-Hamas Conflict
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen returned on the 18th of April from a brief two-day stint in El Salvador. Apparently, his intentions were to become more familiar with the plight of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man hailing from Maryland who found himself wrongly deported from the United States due to the Trump administration’s policies. Van Hollen made this journey to El Salvador right after the Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced during a White House visit that he had no intentions of permitting Abrego Garcia, a native Salvadoran who had illegally entered the U.S. but granted legal stay due to fear of persecution, to leave for the U.S.
It’s a bit ironic that even though it was acknowledged by the White House that Abrego Garcia was erroneously deported, they continue to justify the act by labeling him as an MS-13 gang leader, insinuating he belongs in El Salvador’s infamous Terrorism Confinement Center. However, Abrego Garcia completely refutes these allegations of gang involvement and no criminal convictions support these claims.
During these fumbling exchanges, President Donald Trump decided to label Van Hollen as ‘a fake’ during an Oval Office discourse on a Friday. Van Hollen’s unexpected trip to El Salvador has thrust the Abrego Garcia situation into the spotlight, making it a contentious issue reflecting on the administration’s immigration policies. It’s viewed by the left as a humanitarian crisis and by the right as enforcing campaign promises.
What’s interesting is that Van Hollen seems to be relishing in the attention surrounding this issue. The 66-year-old, who was an aide to former U.S. Senator Charles Mathias of Maryland, seems thrilled to be in the thick of this unfolding drama. The man who once staffed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and subsequently the Maryland Governor, William Donald Schaefer, now appears to fancy himself as a crusader for justice.
It all started when Van Hollen took his first steps into the political world in 1991 with the Maryland General Assembly. He planted his feet in both the Maryland state House and Senate for well over a decade. His momentum continued unchecked until he finally unseated a moderate Republican representative the Maryland’s 8th District, a significant area that includes fragments of the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
Van Hollen’s reign in the House went on for 14 years. During these years, he took the opportunity to run and fill an open U.S. Senate seat that had been left vacant by the retiring Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski in 2016.
Some trivia on Van Hollen, he was actually not born in the United States, but in Karachi, Pakistan, and has lived in a multitude of countries, the United States included that list along with Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka during his early life and childhood.
Fast forward to the 2024 presidential election where the Democratic Party are having internal conflicts over the Israel-Hamas debacle in Gaza. And who might appear as a noisy critic of Israel but Van Hollen. He doesn’t skip a beat in deriding President Joe Biden’s handling of this situation while pushing for a ceasefire and pressurizing for Hamas to release Israeli hostages.
He didn’t stop at criticizing just Biden. From his soapbox on the Senate floor, he called out the suffering of children in Gaza as a heinous war crime. Still, he doesn’t miss the opportunity to point fingers at those he can, turning the focus of his rant towards Biden’s lack of action on Gaza, dubbing it as ‘shameful’.
It’s clear that Van Hollen has a knack for playing the crowd. From focusing on immigration issues to Israel’s conflicts, he’s managed to carve out a space for himself as an outspoken critic, especially when it comes to the Biden’s administration.
What remains to be scrutinized is whether these stances are genuine attempts to improve situations or simply political posturing for efficacy and public appeal. Given the conveniently controversial nature of the topics he chooses to focus on, one could easily argue for the latter.
Van Hollen’s remarks concerning Biden and Harris do more than simply reflect his personal beliefs. They paint a picture of a political climate that is fraught with tension and uncertainty, a theme that seems to echo throughout the upper echelons of government.
One thing is certain, the harsh criticism towards Biden’s action (or inaction) in many situations such as the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, shows that there is a significant faction within the Democratic Party that views the current administration’s approach as severely lacking.
The question that remains is whether or not the Democratic Party can find a coherent and unified approach to these issues, or if the division and stark criticism that has been on display will continue to dominate the narrative.