Trump admin live updates: Dems react to Hegseth discussing Yemen strike in 2nd chat

Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to work to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who the Trump administration admits was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and is being held in the notorious prison CECOT.

Van Hollen made his announcement at a joint town hall with Congresswoman April McClain Delaney, telling constituents

"I don't even know if we announced this, but I am planning tomorrow to go to El Salvador to work to bring him home," Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen had requested a meeting with El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele during his visit to the White House on Monday. He has repeatedly called for the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia's release and return to the U.S.

In a video message on X on Friday, he said, "The family is traumatized. They’re worried of course minute to minute about what might happen to him in that notorious prison. The Trump administration needs to get him home."

-ABC News' Oren Oppenheim, Lauren Peller and Meghan Mistry

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday aimed at preventing undocumented migrants and other ineligible people from obtaining Social Security benefits.

The memorandum includes expanding the Social Security Administration’s fraud prosecutor program and creating a Medicare and Medicaid fraud prosecution program in 15 U.S. Attorney's Offices.

The memorandum also tasks the Social Security inspector general with investigating earning reports for those aged 100 or older with mismatched SSA records, to push back against identity theft.

-ABC News' Michell Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Hannah Demissie

President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that directs the federal government to leverage "modern technology" to evaluate environmental reviews and permits, according to the fact sheet about the action.

The memo directs agencies to make such applications online, leaving behind paper copies, and to form a plan to digitize the review process.

The White House said that current environmental review and permitting processes are "inefficient, unpredictable, and counterproductive to the growth of the American economy."

-ABC News' Michell Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Hannah Demissie

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order launching an investigation into the "national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products," according to a fact sheet on the order.

The president has used Section 232 investigations as a precursor to implementing tariffs, as he did with aluminum and steel. On Monday, the White House acknowledged it had ongoing Section 232 investigations into pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.

The White House notes that critical minerals play an important role in our defense industrial base, and are required for everything from radar systems to jet engines, to secure communications.

However, the U.S. relies on foreign sources for many of these materials.

“Foreign producers have engaged in price manipulation, overcapacity, and arbitrary export restrictions, using their supply chain dominance as a tool for geopolitical and economic leverage over the United States,” The White House said in the fact sheet on the order.

The order calls on the secretary of commerce to submit a final report and recommendations to the president within 180 days of the investigation getting underway.

-ABC News' Michell Stoddart, Molly Nagle and Hannah Demissie