Protest processions took place yesterday in Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, with participants marching from the Metro and Parking Garage to Veterans Plaza. The event aimed to support the rights of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia and to express solidarity with Senator Chris Van Hollen's trip to El Salvador. Among the many who joined the crowd was Sr. Marie Chiodo, DW.

Sr. Marie Chiodo, DW, said, "A 9:30 am media message called for Marylanders to support our Senator Chris Van Hollen, who went to El Salvador on Tuesday to meet with wrongfully imprisoned Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. By 3 pm, over two hundred Marylanders had met in a protest procession.

In El Salvador, Senator Van Hollen was not granted a meeting or even a phone call with Kilmar, who remains incarcerated in CECOT Prison. Kilmar, who lives in the U.S. legally and has no criminal record, was illegally deported from the United States on March 15, 2025, in what the Trump administration called an administrative error. Despite a Supreme Court order for the Trump Administration to procure Garcia's return to the U.S., the administration has ignored the court ruling. We gathered with Montgomery County officials to support Van Hollen's efforts and the family of Kilmar Garcia through our presence, our advocacy with Congress, and our protest that the administration upholds the Rule of Law and the Constitution.

Anna, one of the protestors, and I discussed the many protests over the years, including our early days of protest over the Vietnam War. Anna said, 'I told my daughter that I am too old for this, that it's her turn to march. Her reply got me back on my feet.'

'Mom,' she said, 'at University, we are being advised to consider the implications if we are arrested in a peaceful protest. That arrest could disqualify me from obtaining my license to practice.' Anna's daughter will receive her Doctorate in Engineering in August."

"You will know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free." Jesus

Supporting Their Neighbor and Senator