Two members of House Democratic leadership are working to organize an official congressional delegation to the Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration is sending deportees, Axios has learned.
Sources say dozens of House Democrats have privately expressed interest in joining the trip as a show of opposition to the administration’s deportation policies, the outlet reported.
That said, “while lawmakers could travel to the Central American country informally, a Republican committee chair’s approval is needed to send an official congressional delegation, or CODEL,” Axios reported. “A CODEL would provide the members with crucial oversight powers and security resources.”
Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) have requested authorization from House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) to lead a congressional delegation to El Salvador, according to a letter obtained by Axios. The lawmakers pointed to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who remains detained at El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a high-security prison.
Axios reported that Abrego Garcia was being held “despite the Supreme Court ordering him to be returned to the U.S.,” but that is false; the Supreme Court order said the Trump administration must attempt to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
To that point, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi have both said that El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has informed the U.S. he doesn’t have the authority to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., namely because he’s been identified as a member of the terrorist group MS-13 and is a citizen of El Salvador who was in the U.S. illegally.
“A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT,” Garcia and Frost wrote. Both said they are “prepared to travel as soon as possible” and would “gladly include any Republican Members of the [Oversight] Committee who wish to participate.”
Axios added: “The letter comes after Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) requested a meeting with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele to discuss the return of Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident. Van Hollen will depart for El Salvador on Wednesday morning, he said in a statement. The Maryland Democrat said he hopes to meet with Garcia and check on his well-being.”
Trump offered praise for Bukele following the latter’s official state visit to the U.S. on Monday, noting that the foreign leader’s approach to violent crime has made his country much safer.
Specifically, Trump was referring to Bukele’s construction of a number of ultra-modern, high-security prisons, one of which – a facility known as CECOT- is being used to house dangerous MS-13 gang members who have been deported from the United States.
In an interview with Fox News’ Rachel Campos-Duffy, wife of former Fox News host and current Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Trump appeared to suggest that his administration was looking into using El Salvadoran prisons to house dangerous “homegrown” criminals, perhaps American citizens.
“We are using [President Bukele’s] system because we’re getting rid of our criminals out of the United States,” Trump told Campos-Duffy.
She responded: “Could we use it for our own violent criminals?”
“I call them homegrown criminals… We are looking into it, and we want to do it,” Trump said.
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It’s not clear that the Trump administration would have the constitutional or legal authority to essentially deport an American citizen to a foreign prison.