Democrats are rushing to organize trips to El Salvador as President Trump refuses to comply with a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of a Maryland resident who was erroneously deported to the country.
Why it matters: It’s not just about one deportee, or even immigration policy, lawmakers say. “This is about a president of the United States defying the Supreme Court and wanting to be a king,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).
- Garcia and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are trying to secure GOP authorization to lead a congressional delegation to visit deportees at El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), Axios first reported Tuesday.
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is leaving Wednesday to travel to the Central American country. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is also planning a trip, as Axios first reported.
What they’re saying: “We need to spring into action. … You can’t just put up statements. That doesn’t mean anything,” Garcia told Axios in a phone interview on Tuesday night.
- “I think that it’s important to say what we’re thinking and what our next steps are, but we’ve got to show action,” he added.
- “We have to do similar kinds of things for the others who are victims of this dystopian attack on our Constitutional rights,” said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.). “This president is dangerous and we can’t let this go.”
Zoom out: For months, Democrats have been dogged by the question of how best to demonstrate and display opposition to the Trump administration.
What we’re hearing: The issue of deportations — particularly Trump’s suggestion that deportations of “homegrown” criminals could be next — is lighting up lawmakers’ phone lines.
- Democratic aides and lawmakers told Axios they were bombarded Tuesday with calls from constituents and activists, similar to how DOGE and tariffs have dominated their switchboards in past months.
- “It’s a lot,” one House Democrat told Axios when asked about the call volume they have received on the issue.
- Said another House Democrat: “I just came from a round-table with two Dem activist groups and all they wanted to talk about was El Salvador.”
Reality check: The sentiment within the party about rallying behind deportees is not universal.
- The second House Democrat who spoke anonymously, a centrist, called the deportation issue a “soup du jour,” arguing Trump 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,” they said, likely referring to a deported makeup artist.
- Only if Trump tries to deport U.S. citizens, the lawmaker argued, will Democrats need to draw a “line in the sand” and “shut down the House.”
What to watch: It’s not clear whether House Democrats will be able to get their formal delegation.
- A spokesperson for House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) declined to comment on whether he would grant Garcia and Frost permission to lead a CODEL.
- Garcia suggested Democrats may forge ahead anyway with something more informal, telling Axios: “We’ve been discussing already what the other options would be. Our intention is to go to El Salvador.”
- As for the perspective that the issue is a political loser for Democrats, Garcia argued it is “total bullsh*t,” saying “this is not just a deportation story … this is a broader story about Donald Trump consolidating power.”
