The meeting was jovial, with both leaders seeming at ease with their alliance.

It was an unexpected meeting that Van Hollen had been trying to arrange, and it’s still unclear how it actually happened.

On Tuesday, when El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele was in the US to meet President Trump, Van Hollen’s request to meet was rejected.

So, Van Hollen decided to fly to El Salvador on 16 April.

He posted a video from El Salvador saying he, Ábrego García’s family and lawyers were denied entry to the Cecot prison.

But hours later, Van Hollen surprised everyone by posting a picture in what looked like a restaurant, sitting next to Ábrego García, who was in regular clothes.

“I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” he wrote.

Bukele also commented, saying the prisoner had “miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’”, but will remain in custody now he has been seen publicly alive and well.

El Salvador's Cecot prison is the symbol of the aggressive and controversial "war on gangs" President Bukele has brought forward since 2022.

The Center for the Confinement of Terrorism is an enormous facility located in a rural area spanning 116 hectares (287 acres). It was built in less than a year and has the capacity to hold 40.000 inmates, according to the government.

BBC Mundo was allowed to go inside the facility last year. We witnessed that cells have no windows or ventilation and prisoners sleep on metal bunks without mattresses or sheets.

Each cell can hold more than 150 prisoners and there are only two toilets with no privacy whatsoever. They have limited access to water.

Inmates reportedly eat with their hands inside the cells, and they are only allowed to go out to exercise for 30 minutes a day.

The prison has been used to hold former members from rival gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18.

We're now waiting for that full update from Van Hollen, who is due back in Washington DC this afternoon local time.

The story of Kilmar Ábrego García continues today.

We're expecting to hear soon from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who will be speaking to members of the press a day after his meeting with Ábrego García in El Salvador.

If you're not familiar with the case, Ábrego García was mistakenly deported from Maryland in the United States in March, and sent to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration.

Since then, there's been widespread outcry for his return to the US.

But President Donald Trump and his administration remain steadfast in their view he doesn't belong in the US, accusing him of being a member of the MS-13 gang.

Van Hollen has been taking matters into his own hands and flew out to see Ábrego García earlier in the week.

He met him yesterday - apparently at a hotel or restaurant instead of the prison - and said he would provide an update upon his return to the US in just under an hour.

We will be here covering all the lines from that news conference. Until then, we'll be filling you in on all you need to know about the case, so stick with us.