In a move that reads more like satire than statesmanship, four House Democrats flew to El Salvador to check on the well-being of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported illegal immigrant with alleged ties to MS-13 and a record of domestic abuse accusations. Yes, you read that right—four elected officials prioritized a photo-op for a gang-affiliated criminal over, say, standing up for American victims of crime or, heaven forbid, addressing the border crisis at home.
But in a satisfying twist, El Salvador shut the whole charade down.
Local authorities barred the delegation—Reps. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), Maxine Dexter (D-OR), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), and Robert Garcia (D-CA)—from meeting with Abrego Garcia, citing that their visit was not made in any official U.S. government capacity. Apparently, even El Salvador has higher standards for legitimacy than the traveling circus our Congress has become.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) didn’t mince words on X:
“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.”
It would be funny if it weren’t so offensive.
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here: A group of sitting U.S. lawmakers is defending a deported illegal alien accused of beating his wife and possibly trafficking humans—and who, by the way, has MS-13 tattooed on his knuckles. But rather than acknowledge the gravity of those allegations or express concern for the safety of Americans, they are wringing their hands over “due process” and Supreme Court compliance.
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
Rep. Ansari even went so far as to declare, “This is the one that terrifies me the most when it comes to the future of our democracy.” Not fentanyl. Not human trafficking. Not open borders. Not gang violence. No, what terrifies her is not being able to bring a suspected criminal back into the U.S. from a maximum-security prison in another country.
You can’t parody this.
Rep. Garcia, himself a former illegal immigrant, praised Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for making the original trip to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia—on the taxpayer dime, no less. Van Hollen’s glowing defense of the man seemed to ignore or deflect the allegations altogether, turning a suspected violent gang member into a political martyr.
Let’s not forget: MS-13 isn’t just any gang. It’s one of the most violent transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere. Its members are known for brutal executions, torture, drug trafficking, and intimidation. And this is who Democrats are defending—traveling internationally to do it, while ignoring the countless American victims who have suffered at the hands of criminal illegal aliens.
This isn’t just bad policy. It’s a moral inversion. When elected leaders fly thousands of miles to advocate for the rights of a violent criminal while American citizens are left to deal with the consequences of open borders, something is deeply, fundamentally broken.
