Jeffries Denies Discouraging Democratic Trips to El Salvador

The House Democratic leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, is pushing back forcefully against reporting that he discouraged his colleagues from visiting El Salvador to highlight the plight of migrants deported by President Trump. Mr. Jeffries says Democrats must do “all the things,” including the El Salvador trips, to fight back against the Trump administration. On Wednesday, it was reported by the Bulwark — a right-of-center anti-Trump digital news outlet — that Mr. Jeffries has been telling House Democrats to not travel to El Salvador. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported from Maryland and is accused of being tied to a violent Salvadoran gang, MS-13, has captured the attention of Democrats, leading many of them to try to visit him in El Salvador. Mr. Jeffries called the reporting “totally inaccurate” in an interview with a YouTuber, Keith Edwards, on Wednesday. A top aide to one House Democrat who has been advocating for Mr. Abrego similarly confirms to the Sun that they haven’t heard “anything” about Mr. Jeffries discouraging members from traveling to El Salvador. “We have to do all the things because [Mr. Trump] is completely and totally out of control,” the Democratic leader said. “From our standpoint, that means town hall meetings in Democratic districts, town hall meetings in Republican districts, rallies, speeches, sit-ins, days of action, site visits in America, site visits outside of America, and making sure that we’re having hearings.”“All of these things we’ve been doing over the last 100 days, all of these things we’re gonna have to continue to do with even greater intensity until we can end this national nightmare,” Mr. Jeffries declared. Several of Mr. Jeffries’s colleagues went to El Salvador to try to meet with Mr. Abrego during the recent congressional recess. One of those Democrats, Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, said that if Mr. Abrego — a legal resident of the United States at the time of his removal — can be deported without a hearing, then Mr. Trump could start doing so to American citizens.Mr. Trump was caught on a hot mic with President Bukele saying that he wanted the Salvadoran leader to start taking the “homegrowns” to other prisons in his country. “This is a constitutional crisis,” Ms. Ansari said before going to El Salvador. “My constituents are deeply concerned about the lack of due process, about the fact that they could be next.”Mr. Abrego has been accused of being a member of MS-13 here in America, based on tattoos that the administration says signifies membership, as well as a confidential human source who told law enforcement in 2019 that he was a gang member. Mr. Abrego’s lawyers said in a court filing that he originally fled El Salvador as a teenager to escape a violent gang that was harassing his family. In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump said if it could be proved Mr. Abrego was not a member of a gang, he would happily ask for his return. The president also said that his legal advisors have told him not to bring Mr. Abrego back, and that he has the power to keep him out of the country. “If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Mr. Trump said when asked if he would call Mr. Bukele to ask that Mr. Abrego be released. “I’m not the one making this decision. We have lawyers that don’t want to do this.”The cases of El Salvador deportations, and of Mr. Abrego specifically, have captured the attention of Democrats recently not because of the immigration issue itself but rather because of what they say is the lawlessness of the Trump administration more broadly. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court order demanding that the Trump administration “facilitate” Mr. Abrego’s return to his family in Maryland. The administration has said that because it is not barring Mr. Abrego from booking a flight in El Salvador and coming home, it is removing all domestic barriers to his return, which means it is in compliance with the court order. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration had officially asked Mr. Bukele to release Mr. Abrego from confinement and return him to the United States, though the Salvadoran president reportedly turned down the request. During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Secretary Rubio confirmed that he would “never” answer questions about private negotiations with foreign leaders or allow judges to dictate the foreign policy of the United States. Senator Van Hollen of Maryland was the first to fly to see his former constituent in El Salvador earlier this month. Before the senator arrived, Mr. Abrego had been removed from El Salvador’s maximum-security terrorist confinement center, CECOT, and sent to a lower-security prison 85 miles to the north. Mr. Van Hollen, after returning from his trip, made the case that he was not advocating for Mr. Abrego himself, but rather for his constitutional right to due process, which he says has been violated by the Trump administration. “I’m not vouching for the man. I’m vouching for the man’s rights — the man’s constitutional rights to due process, and the proper place to litigate that is in the courts,” Mr. Van Hollen told “Fox News Sunday” days after he came back from El Salvador. “Put up or shut up in court.”

Jeffries Denies Discouraging Democratic Trips to El Salvador

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