Democrats have provoked a backlash over their plans to travel to El Salvador to visit an illegal alien gang member in prison after he was deported from the United States.
Many critics have slammed the plan as a publicity stunt that seeks to protest President Donald Trump’s deportation policies.
On Tuesday, Axios reported that Reps. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY).
In the letter, the Democrat congressmen requested an official congressional delegation (CODEL) to conduct a “welfare check” on a prisoner in El Salvador.
The prisoner in question is deported El Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed that Abrego Garcia is a member of the bloodthirsty MS-13 street gang – a designated terrorist organization.
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s order last week requiring the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release.
The courts asserted that Abrego Garcia, who entered the country illegally, was deported in “error” because he was granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
However, the White House has defended the deportation based on Abrego Garcia’s ties to MS-13.
The Trump administration has noted that his release is up to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.
Bukele has confirmed that he will not be releasing dangerous gang members into his country, and he will not “smuggle a terrorist” back into the United States.
Several Democrats have attacked the Trump administration for this decision.
On Tuesday, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen revealed that he plans to travel to El Salvador to “show solidarity” with Abrego Garcia if he is not returned.
Conservatives called out Democrats for planning an “elaborate international photo-op” in support of illegal aliens and violent criminals while ignoring victims in the U.S.
Washington Times columnist Tim Murtaugh declared: “They should go.
“Let the whole country see that they care more about illegal aliens than they do about law-abiding Americans.
“There could never be a clearer example.
“Also, this is further proof that the grip the extreme left has on Democrats is increasingly tighter.”
National Review staff writer Caroline Downey remarked:
“Democrats will orchestrate an elaborate international photo-op on behalf of non-citizens but won’t even stand to pay respects to the family of Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal alien.”
GOP deputy communications director Abigail Jackson wrote:
“1. He’s an illegal alien, not a ‘Maryland man.’
“2. It’s pathetic watching Democrats care more about illegal aliens with gang ties than they do about their own constituents who were murdered by illegal aliens.
“This is why they lost and will keep losing.”
Federalist CEO Sean Davis mocked the plan, writing on X:
“Gonna be wild when we find out Democrats’ little Zero Dark Thirty op to bust a cartel terrorist out of prison in El Salvador is just cover for a taxpayer-funded weekend jaunt to a tropical paradise none of them has visited before.”
Daily Caller senior editor Amber Duke wrote:
“They’ll travel to a foreign country to protest an illegal being returned to their home country, but couldn’t be bothered to vote for the Laken Riley Act or meet with any of the families of victims of illegal immigrant crime.”
White House staffer Greg Price commented:
“They wouldn’t even stand up at President Trump’s Joint Session speech to honor Laken Riley’s family, but they will travel to a different country in order to bring an illegal alien back to the United States.”
The Trump administration noted Bukele had the authority to release Abrego Garcia.
However, Bukele cast doubt on the Democrats’ plan to return a dangerous illegal alien criminal to America.
During an Oval Office presser with Trump, reporters asked Bukele if he would return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the U.S.?” Bukele said, visibly stunned by the notion.
“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Abrego Garcia has claimed that he would face persecution from rival gangs if he were returned to his home country of El Salvador.
The Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia.
It acknowledged that Abrego Garcia was subject to a 2019 withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador.
The ruling determined that Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was “therefore illegal.”
The Court stressed that the government must facilitate his release from custody in El Salvador and treat his case as if he had never been deported.
However, top Trump officials said the Supreme Court’s decision was actually a victory that reaffirmed the president’s broad authority over foreign policy.
As it stands, there are no plans to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
