CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings criticized Democrats Tuesday for their plans to travel to El Salvador to advocate for the return of Maryland resident and alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Democratic lawmakers led by Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said they would travel to El Salvador in an effort to secure Garcia’s release, NBC News reported. Jennings, on “The Arena,” said the strategy would hurt Democrats.
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“Our opposition is apparently currently organizing congressional delegations to go to El Salvador to try to bring illegal aliens back to the United States,” Jennings said. “It’s politically crazy!”
President Donald Trump has faced backlash from Democrats for mistakenly deporting Garcia to his home country. The Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. should “facilitate” the alleged gang member’s return, but the Trump administration is arguing it does not need to.
An off-camera panelist said Garcia “has not been criminally charged” and suggested he has not received the “due process” to which he is entitled.
“If you want to die on this hill, be my guest,” Jennings said. “It’s political malpractice to send Democrat members of Congress to El Salvador to retrieve illegal aliens.”
“It’s his senator from his state,” the off-camera panelist said. “He is from the state of Maryland … He lived in Maryland.”
Jennings disputed that Van Hollen is Garcia’s senator due to him being “from El Salvador.”
The Trump administration has said that Garcia, who is an El Salvadoran national, should remain in his home country due to his alleged ties to MS-13 and previous deportation orders from 2019.
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said Monday during a meeting with Trump that he will not return Garcia to the United States.
“How can I smuggle, how can I return him to the United States, like I smuggle him into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it,” Bukele said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Garcia, who illegally entered the U.S. in 2011, on March 12 and deported him to El Salvador, according to court records. The Trump administration acknowledged that his deportation was a clerical mistake, though they have referenced records provided by Prince George’s County Police Department — which described Garcia’s alleged gang name and rank — to argue that he should stay in El Salvador.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Rumble/CNN)
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