Several congressional Democrats are escalating efforts to intervene in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garciaa deported Salvadoran national accused of being an MS-13 gang member and convicted domestic abuserby requesting travel to El Salvador in hopes of returning him to Maryland.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) remains in El Salvador as of Thursday morning after Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa reportedly rejected his requests to contact or release Abrego Garcia, who is currently incarcerated at the infamous CECOT prisonthe high-security facility known for housing the countrys most dangerous gang members.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), a freshman lawmaker, confirmed through her office that she plans to travel to El Salvador to support Van Hollens efforts. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Ansari claimed: Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be home in Maryland right now. His illegal abduction and the dismissal of a Supreme Court ruling is deeply disturbing This is a constitutional crisis."
She went on to liken the deportation to authoritarian regimes, warning: If this can happen to Mr. Garcia, it can happen to any of us.
Other progressive lawmakers, including Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), have requested official authorization from House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to form a congressional delegation (CODEL) to Tecoluca, El Salvador, to conduct what they called a welfare check on Abrego Garcia and other detainees at CECOT.
In their letter, the lawmakers claimed that Abrego Garcia had been under a 2019 withholding order from an immigration judge, barring his removal from the U.S. They argue that his deportation violated legal protections.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is also reportedly planning to visit CECOT, although his office has not responded to media inquiries. Meanwhile, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) has demanded her own CODEL to investigate alleged administrative errors surrounding the deportation.
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) added that other victims of what she described as a dystopian attack on our Constitutional rights may require similar support.
While Democrats call for the return of Abrego Garcia, new documents released by the Department of Homeland Security this week assert that he is a confirmed MS-13 membera claim his legal team denies. Records also show that he has a history of violent domestic abuse, with charges filed in Prince Georges County, Maryland, by his wife.
Republicans have pushed back strongly. Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), who visited CECOT himself, tweeted that many of the inmates he saw were recent deportees with histories of extreme violence.
I leave now even more determined to support President Trump's efforts to secure our homeland, Moore wrote.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) echoed that sentiment, calling the Democrats efforts unconscionable. It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country, Smith posted from the prison grounds.
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