Dems plan trips to El Salvador amid legal battle over Maryland man deported in error

More congressional Democrats are planning trips to El Salvador to meet with government officials and visit the Maryland man who was wrongfully deported from the United States by the Trump administration.

The various visits are being arranged as awareness — and alarm — continue to grow around the circumstances surrounding the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who is now being held in a prison in his home country after Trump officials linked him to gang activity for which he was never charged.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the No. 4 Senate Democrat, is organizing a trip to El Salvador, according to a person granted anonymity to share his plans.

Separately, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland announced during a town hall Tuesday night that he is planning to go to El Salvador Wednesday — making good on a vow to travel to the country if Abrego Garcia was not released. He had also requested a meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele while the Salvadoran leader was in the United States.

The growing concern from Democrats comes after the administration contended that it is not legally obligated to arrange for Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States even after acknowledging his deportation was in error. A recent Supreme Court ruling, the administration argued, only requires officials to admit him into the country if he makes it back from the high-security prison in El Salvador, where he is currently in custody. Bukele said in the Oval Office on Monday he would not return Abrego Garcia.

Some House Democrats who initially expressed interest publicly in traveling with Van Hollen are now trying to plan trips of their own, arguing that sending their own congressional delegation would allow lawmakers to “conduct a welfare check” on Abrego Garcia and others the administration has recently deported to El Salvador.

“We are prepared to travel as soon as possible. We would gladly include any Republican Members of the Committee who wish to participate,” Democratic Reps. Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California wrote Tuesday in a letter to House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.). “Given that the Senate has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT, we believe the House should also be represented.”

They were referring to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, the isolated maximum security prison where Abrego Garcia is currently confined.

Though House Democrats could travel on their own to El Salvador, they need sign off from a House GOP chair for the travel to constitute an official congressional trip, known as a CODEL.

A spokesperson for Comer, who is chair of the committee on which Frost and Garcia are members, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

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