Senate Dem: I’ll Spring Deportee From El Salvador, Or Something

Bet heavily on nothing, except a brief publicity tour for Senator Chris Van Hollen. The Maryland Democrat demanded a meeting with Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele during his state visit with Donald Trump, and got snubbed. Not that it would have mattered much; Bukele scoffed at the idea of sending Salvadoran citizen Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the US after his deportation. 

If Bukele won’t meet with Van Hollen in Washington, then Van Hollen says he will fly to San Salvador and demand a meeting wth Bukele there. One way or the other, Van Hollen insists, he will bring back Abrego Garcia:

Democrat Sen. Van Hollen: I did not hear back from the president of El Salvador to meet with him, so I intend to go to El Salvador this week to show solidarity with Abrego Garcia’s family because he was abducted. pic.twitter.com/BbgY8COO2g

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 15, 2025

Van Hollen made the same demand late yesterday:

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now,” Van Hollen said. “However, since the Trump Administration appears to be ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action.”

He continued, “That’s why I’ve requested to meet with President Bukele during his trip to the United States, and — if Kilmar is not home by midweek — I plan to travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release.”

Needless to say, this is a curious claim and threat. The Trump administration didn’t “abduct” Abrego Garcia; they detained him as an illegal immigrant. The “oversight” to which the administration admitted was procedural, related to the detentions and expulsions of MS-13 gang members. Abrego Garcia’s defenders claim that he wasn’t part of MS-13, but he’s also still an illegal alien who has no right to be in the US in the first place. Marco Rubio made the point plainly yesterday at the White House during Bukele’s visit:

OUCH: Secretary of State Marco Rubio joins in on the smackdown of CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“I don’t understand what the confusion is. This individual is a citizen of El Salvador. He was illegally in the U.S., and was returned to his country…The foreign policy of the U.S. is… pic.twitter.com/aMbU8wUzRt

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) April 14, 2025

“I don’t understand what the confusion is. This individual is a citizen of El Salvador. He was illegally in the U.S., and was returned to his country…The foreign policy of the U.S. is conducted by the President, not by a court. And no court in the U.S. has the right to conduct foreign policy of the U.S. It’s that simple. End of story.”

Rubio is correct that courts don’t run foreign policy. Abrego Garcia has been returned to the country of his citizenship, and now the matter lies entirely within foreign policy. Stephen Miller made the argument that the Trump administration won the Abrego Garcia appeal 9-0, which overstates the thrust by a very long way, but the court did find that courts have no power other than to ask the executive branch to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return rather than order Trump to “effectuate” it. And Bukele made clear that he has no intention of entering negotiations on that point, not with Trump or anyone else.

The Senate doesn’t have any formal role in foreign policy either, but that doesn’t mean Van Hollen will get arrested on his return for intruding on executive authority. Members of Congress conduct foreign policy both subtly and blatantly all the time; that’s one reason among many that the Logan Act stands as a monument to uselessness. Van Hollen can go to San Salvador and demand a meeting with Bukele, but he has no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Trump administration. Bukele might grant a meeting just to check a box — one never knows when San Salvador will have to deal with a Democrat administration again — but it’s doubtful that Bukele will change his mind. If Bukele wanted to negotiate, he would have given Van Hollen a meeting while in DC.

In the meantime, Democrats keep choosing to die on some very curious hills, as House Republican Mary Miller pointed out yesterday:

Young girls are being abused, Americans are being killed, and our communities are being overrun by illegals—and Democrats like Chris Van Hollen are busy fighting for people who shouldn’t even be here while ignoring the needs of real Americans. Disgraceful! https://t.co/bumMzfsmsW

— Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) April 14, 2025

According to the latest Harvard-Harris CAPS poll, 74% of Americans support deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes. Most Americans want Washington to focus on Americans rather than re-import illegal aliens who have already been ejected. This is literally the most popular policy in the Trump administration, so good luck to Democrats on CODELs to spring and import illegal aliens in this environment.