Out gay Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is clapping back at fellow House Democrats who say the party should not be so focused on the Trump administration’s illegal deportation of hundreds of mostly Venezuelan men to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador.
As Axios first reported, Garcia and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Tuesday, April 15, requesting approval for an official congressional delegation (CODEL) to El Salvador “to conduct a welfare check” on Kilmar Ábrego García, Andry José Hernandez Romero, and others who are being held at Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a megaprison notorious for torturing inmates, according to Human Rights Watch.
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“He can’t even go and play video games anymore because the people that he’s playing with are all harassing him.”
Ábrego García and Romero were among hundreds of men the Trump administration deported to El Salvador last month, accusing them with little evidence and without due process of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. However, the administration has admitted that Ábrego García, a legal resident of Maryland, was mistakenly deported due to “an administrative error.” The Supreme Court has ordered the administration to “facilitate” Ábrego García’s return to the U.S., but so far, the President has refused.
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Romero, a gay Venezuelan make-up artist with no criminal record who sought asylum in the U.S., was reportedly sent to CECOT based on a disgraced former police sergeant’s report that he had crown tattoos associated with
According to Axios, dozens of House Democrats have privately expressed interest in traveling to CECOT to protest the administration’s illegal deportations, as well as Trump’s suggestion that he’d like to similarly deport U.S. citizens. In their letter to Comer, Garcia and Frost note that the Senate has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT, and Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) are planning official trips to El Salvador.
“We need to spring into action,” Garcia told Axios. “You can’t just put up statements. That doesn’t mean anything.”
Democrats traveling to El Salvador is seen as part of a “resistance-oriented strategy” from the party, which has struggled to effectively demonstrate its opposition to the second Trump administration. Democrats have been “bombarded” with calls from constituents and activists opposed to the administration’s deportation policies.
But at least one House Democrat told Axios that they think focusing on this issue is a mistake. The president, they said, is “setting a trap for the Democrats, and like usual we’re falling for it.”
“Rather than talking about the tariff policy and the economy… the thing where his numbers are tanking, we’re going to go take the bait for one hairdresser,” the unnamed centrist Democrat added, likely referring to Romero.
Garcia described that position as “total bulls**t.”
“This is not just a deportation story,” he said. “This is a broader story about Donald Trump consolidating power.”
According to the outlet, a spokesperson for Comer declined to comment on whether he would approve Garcia and Frost’s request for a CODEL trip. But Garcia said House Democrats are already discussing other options.
“Our intention is to go to El Salvador,” he said.
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