


House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is disputing claims that he told House Democrats to stop making trips to El Salvador to meet with illegal immigrants the party says were deported without due process.
The Bulwark reported that Jeffries has discouraged lawmakers from making additional trips to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident deported last month over allegations of being an MS-13 gang member.
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But Jeffries’s team denied the report to the Washington Examiner, calling it “patently false” and “thinly sourced innuendo.” The story cited anonymous Democratic aides and one lawmaker.
“When Leader Jeffries says ‘more is more’ pushback on this lawless administration, he means it,” spokeswoman Christie Stephenson said. “As Leader Jeffries has repeatedly said, House Democrats will never stop fighting for the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia.”
A delegation of four House Democrats and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) made trips to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia this month, though the visits have since ebbed. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), the No. 4 Senate Democrat, was among those planning a visit, but would not say Wednesday whether he still intended to go.
“I don’t want to foreshadow any things we’re trying to do to highlight this immigration policy, which is so disastrous and a threat to our due process rights,” Booker told the Washington Examiner.
Van Hollen also declined to address his future plans. He met with Abrego Garcia during his initial visit after multiple failed attempts.
“Look, I will do everything I can to uphold his constitutional right to due process, because if we deny him his rights, that threatens them for everybody,” Van Hollen said.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Democratic whip, told the Washington Examiner he was unaware of any Senate guidance discouraging trips to El Salvador.
“I have not heard any,” he said.
After entering the United States illegally, Abrego Garcia was deported to his native country of El Salvador despite a 2019 judge’s order barring him from being sent there over a credible fear of violence. The Trump administration acknowledged in court that the Maryland man was mistakenly removed.
For certain Democrats, Trump’s unwillingness to facilitate his return to the U.S., despite rulings that rose to the Supreme Court, amounts to a constitutional crisis. However, Republicans have divided the party by painting Democrats as out of touch for defending a deported illegal immigrant. Lawyers for Abrego Garcia dispute his affiliation with MS-13.
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Some Democrats have expressed concern that they could be falling into a “trap” when it comes to Abrego Garcia and immigration policy more broadly. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) warned fellow Democrats that Abrego Garcia’s detention and other deportation flights are shiny objects that distract from the economic turmoil surrounding the White House.
“Don’t get distracted by distractions, we say,” Newsom said recently. “And here, we zig and zag. This is the debate they want.”