GOP Leaders Deny Taxpayer Cash For Dems To Make El Salvador Jail Journey

[ad_1] Republican leaders within the Home have denied requests by Democrats to approve congressional journeys to verify on deportees at a mega jail in El Salvador.

With a publish to X on Friday, Home Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) revealed a letter by which he informed a pair of Democrats that he was rejecting their demand for authorization of a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL) to go to the Terrorism Confinement Middle or CECOT.

“If Democrats want to journey to El Salvador and meet with a international unlawful MS-13 gang member, they'll spend their very own cash to take action,” Comer stated in his social media publish that confirmed a screenshot of the letter. “I cannot approve a single dime of Oversight Committee taxpayer funds to be used on the tour Democrats have requested.”

If Democrats want to journey to El Salvador and meet with a international unlawful MS-13 gang member, they'll spend their very own cash to take action.

I cannot approve a single dime of Oversight Committee taxpayer funds to be used on the tour Democrats have requested. pic.twitter.com/ldokDJBTve

— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 18, 2025

Comer’s letter was addressed to Reps. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who had despatched a request to the chairman this week, saying they wished to go to CECOT to verify on the wellbeing of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an unlawful immigrant from El Salvador who Democrats say has been unlawfully deported and imprisoned, and others held on the jail. Reps. Garcia and Frost famous they'd “gladly embody” any Republicans who wished to affix.

Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old residing in Maryland, was detained and deported to El Salvador final month regardless of a 2019 courtroom order prohibiting him from being despatched again to the nation. His authorized group has been combating the federal authorities in a high-profile courtroom to safe his return to the US. The Trump administration accuses Abrego Garcia of being a member of MS-13, which has been designated as a international terror group. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys deny that their shopper is a part of the gang, however the authorities publicly launched paperwork to substantiate the affiliation.

In his letter, Comer stated Reps. Garcia and Frost requested that he approve from the oversight panel’s price range “official journey for you each to go to the nation of El Salvador to fulfill with a international MS-13 gang member whose spouse accused him of crimes and who's strongly suspected of human trafficking.”

The chairman was referring to a 2021 restraining order that reveals Abrego Garcia was accused of beating his spouse, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who now says they labored via the incident. He additionally pointed to a memo that stated Abrego Garcia was pulled over in 2022 and suspected of human trafficking, though authorities say the Biden administration’s FBI opted to not make an arrest at the moment.

Comer informed Reps. Garcia and Frost it's “absurd that you just each displayed lively hostility for over two years towards the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border disaster and the implications of thousands and thousands of unlawful aliens coming into the nation, but now, you're in search of journey at Committee expense to fulfill with international gang members.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) travelled to El Salvador this week and met with Abrego Garcia on Thursday night. He claims Abrego Garcia is a “constituent” who endured an “abduction and illegal deportation.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “dying camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen within the tropical paradise of El Salvador!🍹 pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025

Alluding to photographs shared by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Comer quipped to Reps. Garcia and Frost they'd be “happy to know” Van Hollen “was photographed simply yesterday in El Salvador having fun with margaritas garnished with cherry slices with the international gang member your letter references.”

Van Hollen, for his half, claims neither he nor Abrego Garcia “touched” the drinks that gave the impression to be margaritas.

The chairman of the Home Homeland Safety Committee, Rep. Mark Inexperienced (R-TN), equally rebuffed a number of Democrats pushing for a go to with Abrego Garcia.

“There isn't any excuse for Democrats to waste taxpayer {dollars} visiting and defending a transnational gang member and reported home abuser,” Inexperienced stated in an announcement on Thursday. “If Democrats care a lot about defending this particular person, they'll use their very own private bank cards — not taxpayers’ cash — to virtue-signal to their radical base.”

One more committee chief, Home Methods and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), just lately shared photographs of a visit he took to CECOT.

Due to President Trump, the CECOT jail in El Salvador, which is residence to among the nation’s most vicious criminals, now contains unlawful immigrants who broke into our nation and dedicated violent acts towards People.

It's unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are… pic.twitter.com/nWTxveW9bs

— Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) April 16, 2025

“Due to President Trump, the CECOT jail in El Salvador, which is residence to among the nation’s most vicious criminals, now contains unlawful immigrants who broke into our nation and dedicated violent acts towards People,” Smith stated. “It's unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the discharge of extra international criminals again into our nation.”