Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland has chosen to fight President Donald Trump’s national security and closed border campaign by advocating for a state resident who has been in the United States illegally for a number of years, and was subject to deportation.
The illegal, Kilmar Garcia, actually was removed to El Salvador’s famed anti-gang prison, and Trump critics have claimed he was not supposed to be sent to that country.
So Van Hollen went to El Salvador and hung around until officials let him have margaritas with the inmate, and came home to make a weekend-long round of talk shows on television.
So now four additional Democrats have made the trip, demanding to meet with Garcia, who El Salvador’s president says is not being returned to the U.S.
Four Democrats just arrived in El Salvador to campaign for the release of an MS-13 terrorist gang member and alleged wife beater.
Rep Robert Garcia – CA
Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost – FL
Rep Yassamin Ansari – AZ
Rep Maxine Dexter – OR pic.twitter.com/OXH8J3QDm7— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 21, 2025
A report revealed that one of them, Maxine Dexter, says “she’s NOT LEAVING without the MS-13 gang member” who also has been suspected of human trafficking and accused of abusing his wife.
Dexter said in a video that promotes her own agenda: “Congresswoman Maxine Dexter here coming to you from El Salvador. I flew here last night with three of my colleagues to demand that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be released. He is being held in violation of a Supreme Court order, expressly telling the Trump administration to effectuate and facilitate his coming home.”
LMAO! Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Dexter is in El Salvador, saying she’s NOT LEAVING without the MS-13 gang member
May as well call a moving company, because you’re gonna be there for a while, @RepDexterOR pic.twitter.com/56ZjzAI3E9
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 21, 2025
Actually, while the U.S. Supreme Court can issue orders to the administration, those statements have virtually no weight in El Salvador, which is not under its jurisdiction.
Dexter continued, “This is being ignored. This is not just a threat to all people in the United States who could be illegally abducted detained and transported internationally against their will but it is a fact that our president does not recognize the branches of government and the balance of power. This is what we all have been calling a constitutional crisis.”
Social media reacted with: “We should send more Democrats down to El Salvador” and “Let her stay.”
Another pointed out Garcia actually is a “citizen of El Salvador and “is currently ‘home.’”
“Maxine Dexter’s El Salvador stunt is peak Democrat delusion. The Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act (H.R. 1050) explicitly bars MS-13 affiliates from asylum or residency—yet she’s fighting to smuggle a deported gang member with domestic abuse allegations back into the U.S.,” said another.
While Van Hollen was praised by leftists across America for the stunt he pulled in having taxpayers pay for his politically linked trip to visit Garcia, he also is the target of those requesting he be investigated for violating the Logan Act, which bars those who are not president from engaging in foreign policy actions with other nations.
A report at Fox said the three other Democrats joining Dexter were Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Yassamin Ansari of Arizona.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News: “We’re not gonna spend a penny of taxpayer dollars for liberal Democrats to continue their stunts to try to appease the radical left-wing base when the American people spoke loud and clear on Election Day. They want our southern border secured, and they want criminal illegals deported, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump’s doing.”
UPDATE: El Salvador just denied Democrats from meeting with the MS-13 gang member because they didn’t travel to the country in an official capacity.
I will never authorize a penny of taxpayer dollars to send Democrats to El Salvador for a photo-op & margaritas. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/OERnOyzQqY
— Rep. James Comer (@RepJamesComer) April 21, 2025
Trump’s response? “Radical Lunatic Democrats and their Comrades in the Fake News Media are falsely making Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia out to be a very sweet and innocent person, which is a total, blatant, and dangerous LIE. Garcia has been found by two separate Courts to be a member of the violent, killer gang MS-13, was in our Country illegally, and is under a Deportation Order.
He continued, “It is despicable and unAmerican for Liberals and the Mainstream Media to hate our Country so much, and be obsessed with protecting criminals, instead of working to keep our Border, streets, and families safe. Those lying to the American People on behalf of violent criminals have to be held responsible by the Agencies and the Courts. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
The report explained Garcia, 29, was deported to El Salvador “in what it described in court filings as an ‘administrative error,’ and has since said that it is up to El Salvador whether Abrego Garcia returns to the U.S. Meanwhile, a federal court and the Supreme Court have instructed the Trump administration to coordinate Abrego Garcia’s return so that proper deportation hearings can occur.”
The report also noted the Department of Justice has revealed domestic violence allegations that Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, included in a court filing in 2021.
And a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations report charge Garcia was suspected of human trafficking.