The Senate on Thursday afternoon voted down a resolution from Senate Democrats to require President Donald Trump’s State Department to write a report on El Salvador’s human rights practices —in light of the administration’s deportation of illegal migrant criminals.
Senators voted along party lines — 50 to 45 — to reject the motion to discharge the resolution, led by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Alex Padilla of California and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senate Republicans sharply criticized the effort as “pure political theater” and another example of their Democratic colleagues defending illegal migrant criminals and obstructing the president’s deportation agenda.
The resolution also required the State Department to report any steps the administration is taking to comply with a court order to “facilitate” the return of reputed MS-13 gangbanger and human trafficker, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The El Salvadoran national has been named in two domestic abuse cases against his wife and has been accused of trafficking illegal migrants across state lines.
Van Hollen referred to Abrego Garcia as his “constituent” on the Senate floor Thursday prior to the vote. Van Hollen was the first Democratic lawmaker to travel to El Salvador in April to protest his deportation and advocate for his return to the United States.
“I have made very clear from the start that I’m not vouching for Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said Thursday. “I am vouching for his rights, because if you deny his rights, you put in jeopardy the rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America.”
Senate Republicans torched Democrats for forcing a vote on the resolution.
“Senator Van Hollen says he does not ‘vouch’ for Garcia, yet he’s one of many Democrats who visited Garcia in El Salvador,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “What they’re proposing is to shield illegal immigrant criminals from deportation and help them evade arrest.”
“This [Kilmar Abrego Garcia] is who Democrats are defending – not just that one individual, but that whole style of behavior that has now impacted every community in America,” Barrasso continued.
“I’m frustrated why we have to have extensive due process for folks who ignore due process to come here,” Republican Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “This is a very curious turn of constitutionality from folks who had no concern about the constitutionality of millions of people coming here illegally.”
Senate Republicans also noted that their Democratic colleagues have largely rejected efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the 119th Congress.
Just 12 Senate Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act, the first piece of legislation Trump signed into law during his second term. The law requires the detention of illegal migrants accused, charged or convicted of an array of criminal offenses.
Similarly, no Senate Democrats in April supported Republicans’ budget resolution unlocking historic amounts of funding to fast-track the president’s deportation agenda.
“What they should be doing is taking their energy to work with us to improve the economy, to make the country safer, to reduce government spending — that’s what they should be doing,” Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno told the DCNF. “This stuff is just total nonsense.”
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