U.S. Rep. Andy Harris knows a Maryland man when he sees one.

To the Republican congressman from the Eastern Shore, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is no Maryland man.

“Calling him a Maryland man just because he happens to have illegally entered the country and ended up in Maryland does not make him a Maryland man,” he told The Washington Reporter , a conservative political newsletter.

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen knows a Maryland man when he sees one, too.

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The Montgomery County Democrat flew to El Salvador and confirmed that Abrego Garcia was still alive during a surprise face-to-face meeting Thursday night, weeks after he was abducted by federal agents in Maryland and exiled to U.S.-rented prison cells.

“If you threaten the constitutional rights of one man, you threaten the constitutional rights and due process for everyone else in America,” Van Hollen said.

The definition of a Maryland man is at the center of Abrego Garcia’s fate, and maybe the republic itself.

The 29-year-old husband and father was living in Beltsville when he got swept up in the early days of President Donald Trump’s purge of immigrants , transgender people, foreign students and academics, minorities and anyone else he dislikes from the American story.

By those misguided actions, this Maryland man became a symbol far greater than his personal story.

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For people like Harris, Abrego Garcia is what’s wrong with America. We have become, he argues, too supportive of those not born here, of those unlike “us.”

“The Democrats want to coddle illegal immigrants,” Harris said on the social media platform X . “That’s the bottom line.”

To people like Van Hollen, that’s just Harris trying to hide what’s happening.

“That is an outright lie, " the senator said Friday.

Instead, he sees Abrego Garcia as a man from Maryland, who, like others, has constitutional rights intended to protect everyone equally, regardless of the mistakes they’ve made or their immigration status.

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“The Trump administration is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” said Van Hollen, a Georgetown-educated lawyer.

“Now the Trump administration wants to flat-out lie about what this case is about. They want to change the subject.”

Trump and Harris, the leader of Maryland Republicans, want to distract you from threats to the Constitution with fear of immigrants.

Harris wants to merge Abrego Garcia — a man who has been denied a day in court — with Victor Martinez-Hernandez, who was convicted last week in the rape and murder of Rachel Morin , and Walter Javier Martinez, who was convicted of raping and killing Kayla Hamilton .

“Look, MS-13 gang members, Tren de Aragua gang members, some of them are fathers,” Harris said in one of his tele-town halls. “And to classify them not as an illegal alien gang member but as a ‘Maryland father’ is just an attempt to whitewash the need to deport criminal illegal aliens.”

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Roughly a quarter of the 1 million immigrants in Maryland are here without government permission. That’s because the system is broken.

The vast majority obey the rules, even if they violated federal immigration law by coming here without the right documents or overstaying their visas.

Those considered “illegal aliens” once included first lady Melania Trump, Trump’s billionaire sidekick Elon Musk and Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley.

Morin’s and Hamilton’s tragic deaths have nothing to do with Abrego Garcia.

Instead of helping improve public safety or fix the immigration system, instead of helping people who contribute through hard work and desire to improve the lives of their families, Harris wants you to hate the enemy within.

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“Imagine if Senator Van Hollen cared as much about the families of Rachel Morin and Kayla Hamilton,” he wrote Thursday night .

Abrego Garcia is suspected of gang connections because of what he was wearing . His wife sought a protective order at a low point in their marriage.

“Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect,” Jennifer Vasquez Sura said.

Despite the congressman’s assertions, there is no such thing as a Maryland citizen.

A Maryland resident claims it as his or her primary home, pays taxes and enjoys the benefits they provide — chief among them schools, roads, sewer and water, public safety and the court system.

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Only U.S. citizens can vote in national and state elections. There is no test for what makes a Maryland man.

You can define it in a way that seems particularly apt right now. A Maryland man shows courage in his convictions.

It’s easy to hide behind friendly news media, as Harris does, outlets that won’t challenge his distortions. He refuses to talk with me .

“The liberal media is soft on illegal immigrants,” he told The Washington Reporter. “They’re soft on illegal immigrant crime, and this [is] a perfect example of it.”

If that’s me he’s talking about, I want Martinez-Hernandez and Walter Javier Martinez to rot in prison.

Abrego Garcia and those like him, though, should be brought home.

Van Hollen put himself at the forefront of resistance to Trump. He’s led rallies of fired federal workers and focused attention on threats to Social Security, NASA and more.

He’s talking with groups challenging Trump’s actions in court, and trying to convince the Republican-controlled Senate it will eventually have to stand up to a president behaving like a king. He got Trump’s attention.

“Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Van Hollen in fact moved beyond words, putting himself in danger to confirm that an immigrant abducted by federal agents was still alive.

A Maryland man, then, acts on his beliefs, and Van Hollen believes we are in a crisis like never before.

“We all must be prepared,” Van Hollen said, “to take risks because of the risk to our Constitution itself.”