Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar suggested Democratic lawmakers made a strategic mistake by rallying around a deported illegal migrant accused of human trafficking and being affiliated with the MS-13 gang.
Cuellar, who represents a district bordering Mexico that is three-quarters Hispanic, criticized his Democratic colleagues’ decision to make their defense of reputed MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia a focal point in their disagreement with the administration’s deportation policies. Congressional Democrats have traveled to El Salvador to press for Abrego Garcia’s release from the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison and return to the United States despite his alleged ties to a criminal gang.
Though the Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, Trump officials have argued that they no longer have jurisdiction over the deported illegal non-citizen given his detention in El Salvador.
“This is not the right issue to talk about due process,” Cuellar told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio Friday. “This is not the right case. This is not the right person to be saying ‘We need to bring him back to the United States.’”
“Democrats should not take [on] this issue,” Cuellar added. “When you look at immigration is this the immigration case you want to take to fight on? In my opinion, absolutely no.”
Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen became the first Democratic lawmaker to travel to El Salvador to advocate for Abrego Garcia’s release from CECOT.
“We must urgently continue working to return Kilmar safely home to Maryland,” Van Hollen said in an April 15 press release.
Van Hollen mistakenly characterized Abrego Garcia as a “United States citizen” during an interview with reporters.
Other Democratic lawmakers have justified their vocal defense of Abrego Garcia despite the deported illegal migrant’s alleged criminal history.
“We need to have this fight as a nation about whether we should still uphold the Constitution and still believe there are three co-equal branches of government and the president is blatantly ignoring one of those branches right now,” Democratic Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin told Politico regarding the Trump administration’s refusal to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. “I wouldn’t have picked this case myself, because it’s hard with the El Salvador piece. He’s in another country, but the case picked us.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, offered to pay for Democratic lawmakers’ travel to El Salvador following four House Democrats’ trip to the central American country on April 21.
“We just have one condition: Livestream the whole thing,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement. “We’ll pay for the plane tickets, they just can’t forget to smile for the camera while they sell out their constituents.”
Cuellar, who the NRCC is seeking to defeat in the midterms, criticized former President Joe Biden for failing to secure the border. He also argued that Biden administration officials catered to left-wing immigration advocates, which left border communities reeling from the effects of illegal immigration.
“It was laughable when they would say the border was secure. It was not,” Cuellar told Kilmeade. “When you pay attention more to the immigration advocates and don’t pay attention to border communities and the rest of the United States, then your priorities are not set correctly.”
Cuellar was one of 46 House Democrats that voted “yes” on the Laken Riley Act, which required the detention of illegal migrants who commit a variety of criminal offenses. He also supported legislation that would increase criminal penalties on illegal foreign nationals that attempt to flee Border Patrol agents via a motorized vehicle.
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