Tag Archive for: Chris Van Hollen

Senate Rejects Dem Effort Defending Illegal Migrant Criminals

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The Senate on Thursday afternoon voted down a resolution from Senate Democrats to require President Donald Trump’s State Department to write a report on El Salvador’s human rights practices — in light of the administration’s deportation of illegal migrant criminals.

Senators voted along party lines — 50 to 45 — to reject the motion to discharge the resolution, led by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Alex Padilla of California and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senate Republicans sharply criticized the effort as “pure political theater” and another example of their Democratic colleagues defending illegal migrant criminals and obstructing the president’s deportation agenda.

The resolution also required the State Department to report any steps the administration is taking to comply with a court order to “facilitate” the return of reputed MS-13 gangbanger and human trafficker, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The El Salvadoran national has been named in two domestic abuse cases against his wife and has been accused of trafficking illegal migrants across state lines.

Van Hollen referred to Abrego Garcia as his “constituent” on the Senate floor Thursday prior to the vote. Van Hollen was the first Democratic lawmaker to travel to El Salvador in April to protest his deportation and advocate for his return to the United States.

“I have made very clear from the start that I’m not vouching for Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said Thursday. “I am vouching for his rights, because if you deny his rights, you put in jeopardy the rights of everybody who resides in the United States of America.”

Senate Republicans torched Democrats for forcing a vote on the resolution.

“Senator Van Hollen says he does not ‘vouch’ for Garcia, yet he’s one of many Democrats who visited Garcia in El Salvador,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “What they’re proposing is to shield illegal immigrant criminals from deportation and help them evade arrest.”

“This [Kilmar Abrego Garcia] is who Democrats are defending – not just that one individual, but that whole style of behavior that has now impacted every community in America,” Barrasso continued.

“I’m frustrated why we have to have extensive due process for folks who ignore due process to come here,” Republican Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “This is a very curious turn of constitutionality from folks who had no concern about the constitutionality of millions of people coming here illegally.”

Senate Republicans also noted that their Democratic colleagues have largely rejected efforts to crack down on illegal immigration in the 119th Congress.

Just 12 Senate Democrats voted for the Laken Riley Act, the first piece of legislation Trump signed into law during his second term. The law requires the detention of illegal migrants accused, charged or convicted of an array of criminal offenses.

Similarly, no Senate Democrats in April supported Republicans’ budget resolution unlocking historic amounts of funding to fast-track the president’s deportation agenda.

“What they should be doing is taking their energy to work with us to improve the economy, to make the country safer, to reduce government spending — that’s what they should be doing,” Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno told the DCNF. “This stuff is just total nonsense.”

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Contributor.

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EXCLUSIVE: Department Of Homeland Security Confirms Abrego García Stopped On Suspicion Of Human Trafficking

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to the Daily Caller that Kilmar Abrego García, a recently deported alleged member of MS-13, was stopped in December 2022 on suspicion of human trafficking.

During a Dec. 1, 2022 traffic stop by a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer, Abrego García was found to be transporting eight passengers across the country, sources told the Tennessee Star. He allegedly did not have a valid driver’s license and was suspected of trafficking the passengers but was let go at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Documents from Homeland Investigations provided to the Daily Caller reveal more details about the encounter.

Abrego García was pulled over because the vehicle was observed “speeding and unable to maintain its lane,” according to the documents. Abrego García had an expired Maryland “limited term temporary driver’s license,” which is provided to individuals who are not U.S. citizens, authorities said.

The officer identified eight other individuals in the vehicle and Abrego García advised that he was driving them from Texas to Maryland, according to the documents. None of the passengers had any luggage and all provided the same home address, which was Abrego Garcia’s address, authorities said.

Abrego García allegedly pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to confuse the officer by responding to the officer’s questions with his own.

Abrego García also said the owner of the vehicle was his “boss,” who works in construction, authorities said.

The officer attempted to gather details about the other passengers but was not able to read their handwriting, according to the documents, and Abrego García was given a warning for driving on an expired license.

DHS also advised the Caller that Abrego García is on the Threat Screening Center’s Transnational Organized Crime Watchlist.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a gang field interview sheet Wednesday that contained evidence that Abrego García is a member of MS-13. Two immigration judges denied Abrego García bond during 2019 hearings, affirming the government’s claim that he is MS-13 and citing him as a potential danger to the community.

Abrego García was given a withholding of removal by a separate immigration judge, meaning he could not be deported to El Salvador due to concerns of persecution by Barrio 18, a rival gang to MS-13. The Trump administration said they made an “administrative error” when Abrego García was removed to El Salvador. He is currently being held in the country’s CECOT prison.

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Trip To El Salvador Likely Paid For By Taxpayers, Senate Aides Say

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Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador to try to secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported illegal alien, was likely funded by taxpayers, six individuals familiar with congressional travel tell the Daily Caller.

Three Senate aides and one former aide told the Caller that they believe the trip was likely a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL), which refers to an official visit abroad by members of Congress and their staff. Such trips are paid for with federal government resources.

“Gotta be,” said one high-level Senate aide when asked if they believe taxpayers foot the bill for Van Hollen’s travel.

A former senior congressional aide said, “Zero doubt the Senator either paid out of the office MRA [Member’s Representational Allowance] or paid personally and will get reimbursed as an ‘official travel’ expense.”

Van Hollen flew to El Salvador on Wednesday morning in a bid to get the country’s government to release Abrego Garcia. Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the CECOT prison despite an immigration judge issuing a withholding of removal in 2019 after the Salvadoran national said he feared he would be targeted by Barrio 18, a Salvadorian gang that is a rival to MS-13, if he were returned to his home country.

Court documents and a Gang Field Interview Sheet released by the Department of Justice indicate that when Abrego Garcia was first picked up by police in 2019 he was with two other ranking members of MS-13, wore clothing that signified he was a gang member, and was identified as a member of MS-13 by a trusted confidential informant. Two immigration judges in 2019 agreed with the government’s assessment that Abrego Garcia posed a danger to the public and was a “verified member” of the gang.

“If I had to bet, this trip was funded with taxpayer dollars. Regardless, it’s insane that Democrats are more concerned about illegal immigrant gang members being sent home than their constituents’ safety,” one Senate aide said.

Van Hollen was unsuccessful in meeting or having a phone call with Abrego Garcia while he was in El Salvador. The senator said he was able to meet with the vice president of El Salvador, who allegedly told him “he was not able to make that happen.”

Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele asserted in an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump earlier this week that he has no intention of returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S., calling the idea “preposterous.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Van Hollen’s little PR stunt to support an illegal alien was actually paid for by hardworking Americans,” another Senate aide said. “Democrats like Van Hollen are more outraged by a justified deportation than they are by horrific crimes committed by criminal illegals in the U.S. This little trip is a perfect example of why Americans overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his commonsense immigration policies. Van Hollen’s potentially taxpayer-funded trip might play well with radical liberals on the East and West Coast, but regular Americans just want to know whether they have to foot the bill.”

Senator Ted Cruz addressed the issue of funding for Van Hollen’s trip during Wednesday’s edition of his “Verdict” podcast.

“That’s one of the prerogatives of being in the Senate, is that you can travel internationally on official travel, and each senator can make a determination of where he or she wants to go,” Cruz said of taxpayer-funded trips. “And it should be related to your responsibilities, related to your work, but particularly for someone like Van Hollen or Murphy. They both serve with me on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and so that, in and of itself, gives you a significant justification to travel abroad work-related.”

Cruz continued, “So, look, can the Democrats travel to El Salvador if they want, and is that part, reasonably, of their work? Yes, but what they’re doing is traveling there in order to highlight, ‘We want to bring this illegal immigrant whom two courts have found as an MS-13 member, back to America.’ That’s astonishingly bad policy, and I think astonishingly bad politics.”

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

A committee chair’s approval is typically needed for a member to go on an official congressional delegation, individuals familiar tell the Caller.

A spokesperson for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told the Caller that committee chair Sen. Jim Risch did not approve Van Hollen’s trip, but noted that some other committees and Senate leadership — including Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have the power to approve foreign travel, so Van Hollen “must have found another way.”

Reps. Maxwell Frost and Robert Garcia said in a letter requesting their own CODEL for a trip to El Salvador that the Senate “has already authorized CODEL travel to CECOT.”

Van Hollen said he will not stop fighting for his “constituent” and referred to Abrego Garcia as an “American citizen” on Tuesday. His staff later said he “misspoke” and meant to refer to Abrego Garcia’s wife, who was born in the United States.

Van Hollen’s office did not respond to multiple inquiries from the Caller about the funding of his trip.

Abrego Garcia’s wife previously filed two domestic violence protection orders against him, according to court documents obtained by independent journalist Andy Ngo.

While Van Hollen was in El Salvador, the White House held a special press briefing with Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland mother murdered by an illegal alien. Morin noted that while Van Hollen issued a press release following her daughter’s death, he never called her to express sympathy nor did he meet with Rachel’s family.

Morin said she was outraged that “a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge — or barely acknowledged — my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother” opted to “use my tax money to fly to El Salvador to bring back a person … who isn’t even an American citizen.”

AUTHOR

Amber Duke

Senior Editor. Follow Amber on Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Sanders, Warren, other Democrat Senators call on US to give Palestinian Authority and Hamas $75 million

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As the economic crisis created by the coronavirus deepens, it is astounding that these Senators think this is a good use of the taxpayers’ money. Once this money arrived in the PA and Gaza, it would be used almost exclusively to line the pockets of various officials and to pay expenses related to the ongoing jihad against Israel.

“As Americans go Broke, Sanders Demands Taxpayers Give Hamas $75 Million,” by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News, March 29, 2020 (thanks to the Geller Report):

A group of Democratic senators called for the U.S. State Department to reverse its policy and give funding to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.

Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting that the government reverse its policy and resume giving monetary aid to the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria and the Hamas-led government in Gaza.

“Given the spread of the coronavirus in the West Bank and Gaza, the extreme vulnerability of the health system in Gaza, and the continued withholding of U.S. aid to the Palestinian people, we are concerned that the Administration is failing to take every reasonable step to help combat this public health emergency in the Palestinian Territories,” the letter read.

The Democratic politicians seek to squeeze $75 million in aid to the Hamas-led government in Gaza and the PA in Judea and Samaria under the guise of the FY 2020 Appropriations Act.

It should be noted that President Trump slashed funding to the PA in 2018 as per the Taylor Force Act, also known as the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act (ATCA), that cuts some aid to the Palestinians until they end stipends to terrorists and the families of slain attackers.

In 2016, the PA paid out about $303 million in stipends and other benefits to the families of so-called “martyrs”. The funds are disbursed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO/Fatah). The families of convicted Palestinians serving time in Israeli prisons receive $3,000 or higher per month, higher than the average Palestinian wage.

Any monies that go to Gaza must necessarily go through the government which is run by Hamas. Hamas, recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, was elected as the ruling party in Gaza in 2006. Gaza receives billions of dollars of humanitarian aid, much of which is usurped by the Hamas government for use in terrorist infrastructures….

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EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. © All rights reserved.