Just when you thought Democrat priorities couldn't get more backwards, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) proves us wrong yet again. While American citizens struggle to make ends meet under Bidenomics, the Maryland Democrat jetted off to El Salvador on a fool's errand to "rescue" a deported MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, and domestic abuser.
And guess who footed the bill?
That's right. According to multiple Senate insiders, YOU, the American taxpayer, bankrolled Van Hollen's virtue-signaling escapade through a Congressional Member Delegation (CODEL). Nothing says "America Last" quite like spending taxpayer dollars to advocate for a foreign gang member while American citizens face rising crime and open borders.
The sheer audacity is mind-boggling. Van Hollen didn't even secure proper approval from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch (R-Idaho) for this taxpayer-funded publicity stunt.
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.
But why let a little thing like proper procedure stand in the way of progressive grandstanding?
“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,” a Senate aide explained.
“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.”
Even more outrageous, while Van Hollen has posted at least ten times about his crusade to "bring home" Kilmar Abrego Garcia (who, by the way, was legally deported to his actual home country), he's been conspicuously silent about American victims of illegal immigrant crime in his own state. The hypocrisy is stunning, but hardly surprising.
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The trip was a spectacular failure, with El Salvador's leadership rightfully calling Van Hollen's request "preposterous." President Nayib Bukele showed more common sense than our entire Democratic leadership by refusing to play along with this political theater.
While Americans struggle to recover from the malaise of the Biden years, Democrats like Van Hollen are using your hard-earned money to fly to El Salvador to advocate on behalf of a gang member to have him returned to the United States. If this doesn't perfectly encapsulate the warped priorities of today's Democratic Party, I don't know what does.
Remember this the next time Democrats cry about government spending cuts or claim they're fighting for the American people. Their actions speak louder than words, and right now, those actions are saying they care more about foreign gang members than American citizens.
The real question is: How many more Americans need to suffer before Democrats like Van Hollen start putting America first? Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.
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