Who would have thought that a Maryland senator carrying a message to Kilmar Abrego Garcia would get to El Salvador before Eddie Markey.

Or Elizabeth Warren. Or even Gov. Maura Healey for that matter.

Markey and Warren were among 24 Democratic U.S. senators who signed a letter to the Trump administration demanding the return to the U.S. of deported alleged MS-13 gangbanger Garcia.

Healey spent the weekend giving television interviews attacking Trump.

But it was fellow progressive Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland who beat them all to the punch when he went to El Salvador a week ago to pay homage to Garcia.

Garcia, 29, is the illegal immigrant from El Salvador that the Trump administration “wrongly” deported back to his home country along with a plane loaded with criminal illegal immigrants. There was a 2019 court order barring his deportation for fear of persecution.

Since then, Garcia has become a poster boy for the Democrats who in their blind hatred of President Trump and his deportation policy, have shown more empathy for illegal immigrant gangbangers than they have for their victims, many of whom are women and children.

The Democrats, including Markey and Warren and the U.S. Supreme Court, want Garcia, described sympathetically as a “Maryland father” by the propagandist left-leaning press, want Garcia returned to the U.S. Where he would be deported again.

As Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s press secretary, put it, “And if he ever ends up back in the United States, he would immediately be deported again. Nothing will change the fact that Garcia will never be a Maryland father. He will never live in the United States of America again.”

But that did not deter Van Hollen, in a showy trip to El Salvador, to visit Garcia in a foolish attempt to bring him back to the U.S, even though Garcia is an incarcerated citizen of El Salvador.

He failed, although his visit was covered extensively by the Trump-hating media desperately looking for a Democrat who can stand up to Trump and run for president in 2028.

As a media opportunity, Van Hollen’s visit ranked right up there with the “Oligarchy Tour” launched by odd couple Socialist Democrat Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and was far better than Sen. Cory Booker’s gimmicky and gruesome 25-hour speech in the Senate.

Van Hollen did at least meet with Garcia.

But the real point was not to bring Garcia back to the U.S.  The point was to command the attention of the media for a week, which is what he did. Suddenly this nobody from nowhere was touted as a presidential contender.

The Democratic Party is so lacking in leaders that even Van Hollen looks good, and his failed mission turned into some sort of major accomplishment by sycophants in the media.

He could have at least set up an Garcia GoFundMe account or even a PAC to raise campaign money.

Soon pro illegal immigrant Democrats running for president, or for reelection to the U.S. House in 2026, will begin making pilgrimages to El Salvador to meet with Garcia and get his endorsement.

Hardly had the dust settled from Van Hollen’s visit than four Democrats running for reelection to the House also went to El Salvador. Although they did not meet with Garcia, they nevertheless held press conferences to attack Trump

The four progressives are Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California.

All this El Salvadoran activity — and the lack of action by left leaning Massachusetts politicians like Healey, Markey and Warren — is leaving liberal Massachusetts in the dust.

Something must be done. Massachusetts progressives must act to save the state’s sanctuary reputation.

Markey and Healey ought to go to El Salvador, along with Warren, to secure Garcia’s release.

A grateful Garcia with his PAC money would then campaign for Markey and Healey who are both up for reelection in 2026. And the states’ reputation as a haven for illegal immigrants, criminal or otherwise,   would be saved.

Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com