Top Democrats announced an effort Thursday to force the Trump administration to provide a report on how it is specifically complying with a court order to facilitate the return of wrongfully deported U.S. residents to El Salvador.
The resolution to do so from Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Charles Schumer of New York, Alex Padilla of California and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is “privileged,” – meaning it will require a full Senate vote. Kaine cited the specific code under a 1961 foreign assistance law that allowed such.
If passed, and the White House fails to abide by it, U.S. security assistance to El Salvador would be immediately frozen, Schumer, Kaine and Van Hollen said.
NOT A MARYLAND MAN: GOP BLASTS DEMOCRAT SENATOR FIGHTING FOR RETURN OF SALVADORAN NATIONAL
At a press conference outside the Capitol, the three men laid out how the vote would work, and one lawmaker later disclosed a separate effort to schedule a vote on sanctions against El Salvador over President Nayib Bukele’s work with Trump.
“I also send a message to the government of El Salvador,” Kaine said during his remarks, breaking into Spanish midway.
“You might think it’s cute right now to grab attention by a bromance with President Donald Trump. He’s going to be a president for poco mas (a short time) – tres anos mas (three years more).”
Continuing in Spanish, Kaine said the two countries will always have relations, before transitioning back to English to say that the U.S. will not soon forget “you violating the human rights of American citizens, you’re wrong.”
“We will remember this forever,” Kaine pledged. “And there will be significant and challenging downstream consequences for any nation that violates the rights of Americans.”
KILMAR GARCIA NOW GETS 5 TOTAL DEM PROPONENTS IN EL SALVADOR
The move was spurred by the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 gang member who was deported from Maryland to his home country last month.
Van Hollen later said the privileged resolution was not expressly about Garcia, but instead the greater idea that such people could be deported and/or treated without due process.
Echoing Kaine on repercussions for San Salvador’s government from Washington, Van Hollen spoke of plans to also seek a sanctions vote against Bukele “and all those who are part of his government conspiring with Donald Trump to deprive residents of the United States of their constitutional rights.”
Returning again to speaking bilingually, Kaine responded to a reporter’s question by summing up the privileged resolution in Spanish.
“We have a guarantee of a vote after ten days on El Salvador and we are sending a message to President Trump that he needs to follow the law. And we are also sending a message to President Bukele that we are not going to forget if the government of El Salvador is violating American human rights,” he said.
In a statement in English aside from the conference, Kaine said Bukele “has rounded up tens of thousands of Salvadorans without due process and jammed them indefinitely into overpopulated torture centers. And now he’s trying to do the same to people living in the United States,” Kaine said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital prior to the conference.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“We will use this resolution to force accountability,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, a House supporter of the resolution – though Kaine said it does not require their blessing.
Van Hollen, who took a junket to El Salvador to attempt to bring Garcia to Maryland – where his family lives – said Trump has failed to comply with the order to facilitate his return.
Both Trump and Bukele appeared to agree in an Oval Office meeting last month that returning Garcia would be “preposterous” and that the court order didn’t quite say what critics said it did.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., on Thursday devoted his floor speech to the overall subject of immigration and touched on the El Salvador matter.
“President Trump is off to a strong start. His strategic and historic deportation campaign, the largest in our history, is making our streets safer. The criminals President Trump is expelling are the worst of the worst. They are murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and human traffickers. They’re gone. In 100 days, 66,000 deportations have been carried out. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of illegal immigrant criminals have already outpaced all of 2024 under Joe Biden,” Barrasso said.
“Americans are thrilled that President Trump is enforcing the law and restoring order. The Democrats on the other hand are furious,” he said.
He cited Van Hollen’s El Salvador trip, and riffed that the media dubbed Garcia “a Maryland man.”
“A member of this body (Van Hollen) – led that charge. In 2023, that member’s constituent Rachel Morin – a mother of five – was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant. Did he speak out? No. Did he meet with her family? No. He refused. Yet he rushed to El Salvador to fight for a gang member.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.