House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) is rejecting a request from Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia (D-CA) and Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) to use committee funds for a trip to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member and deported illegal alien.
In a sharply worded letter posted to X (formerly Twitter), Comer slammed the Democrats’ proposal as “absurd” and confirmed that no taxpayer funds would be approved for such an excursion.
“If you also wish to meet with him, you can spend your own money,” Comer wrote. “But I will not approve a single dime of taxpayer funds for use on the excursion you have requested.”
Democrats Double Down on Defense of Abrego Garcia
The request for funding follows Senator Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) highly publicized trip to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia—a visit that’s drawn national attention and intense criticism. Van Hollen, who has characterized Garcia as a “wrongfully deported Maryland father,” posted photos of the meeting online and claimed he had contacted Garcia’s wife to pass along a “message of love.”
But Comer, in his letter, took direct aim at the optics of the senator’s visit.
“You may be pleased to know that a Democrat Senator, Chris Van Hollen, was photographed just yesterday in El Salvador enjoying margaritas garnished with cherry slices with the foreign gang member your letter references,” Comer quipped.
White House and DHS: “Credible Intelligence” Ties Garcia to MS-13 and Human Trafficking
While Democrats and sympathetic media outlets have pushed a narrative of mistaken identity or political persecution, the Trump administration has stood firm. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said intelligence confirmed that Abrego Garcia was a member and leader of MS-13 and was involved in human trafficking.
“Fact number one: this individual was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt stated during a recent briefing. “Fact number two: we have credible intelligence proving he was involved in human trafficking. Fact number three: he was a leader of MS-13 — which President Trump has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
A press release from the Department of Homeland Security further supported the administration’s position, noting that Abrego Garcia was arrested with drugs, large sums of cash, and two other confirmed MS-13 members. He was reportedly wearing gang-affiliated clothing that featured the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” imagery—a known MS-13 symbol.
“Two judges found that he was a member of MS-13,” the DHS release emphasized.
El Salvador’s Bukele: “He Gets the Honor of Staying Here”
Even as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate Garcia’s release, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele made it clear the country has no intention of letting him go.
“Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele wrote on X, reiterating that Abrego Garcia would not be returning to the U.S.
Comer: Democrats Were Silent During Border Crisis, But Now Want to Defend Gang Members
In his letter, Comer highlighted what he called the Democrats’ hypocrisy in the broader immigration debate.
“It is absurd that you both displayed active hostility for over two years toward the Committee’s oversight of the Biden Border Crisis and the consequences of millions of illegal aliens entering the country, yet now, you are seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members,” he wrote.
The Kentucky congressman made clear that defending gang members who were deported lawfully, by judicial order, is not a cause that deserves federal funding — nor public sympathy.
Political Fallout Continues
While Democrats continue to paint Garcia as a victim, Republicans insisr the situation is a textbook case of misplaced priorities and political grandstanding.
For now, Garcia remains in El Salvador, though the controversy surrounding continues to dominate American media and discourse.
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