OPINION:
I’ve spent a lifetime in service — Marine Corps combat veteran, law enforcement officer and security professional. I’ve seen the cost of failed leadership up close. But few elected officials have done more to undermine operational integrity and public safety than Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
His interference in deportation efforts — most notably the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a violent offender with suspected MS-13 ties — is not just reckless, it’s dangerous. Mr. Van Hollen personally lobbied for Mr. Garcia’s release from a mega-prison in El Salvador, dismissed the warnings of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement and welcomed Mr. Garcia back to Maryland. This wasn’t compassion; it was sabotage. While frontline agents risk their lives enforcing immigration law, Mr. Van Hollen elevates criminal defendants to political martyrs.
But the damage doesn’t stop at immigration. Mr. Van Hollen’s failure to secure infrastructure support for flood-prone communities like the city of Crisfield, his disregard for victim advocacy groups and his pattern of ideological posturing over operational outcomes all reveal a troubling truth: The senator governs by optics, not outcomes.
I’ve had it with Beltway elites who treat enforcement professionals like pawns and victims like footnotes. It’s time we expose every inequity, every obstruction and every betrayal of public trust. Sen. Van Hollen’s record deserves scrutiny, not spin.
GARY N. DARBY
U.S. Marine Corps (retired)
Mesa, Arizona
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