House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer published a scathing letter denying House Democrats’ request for an official visit to the El Salvador prison CECOT.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen made headlines when he took it upon himself to fly to the country and visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia — the Salvadoran national who was deported from the state and detained in El Salvador’s notorious maximum security prison. Immigration officials have maintained that Abrego Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13; but Abrego Garcia’s legal team has argued that no evidence has been provided to back up that allegation. Despite a Supreme Court order stating that President Donald Trump’s administration must “facilitate” his return to the U.S., Trump officials have vowed that he will never return.

A delegation of House Democrats — led by Florida’s Maxwell Frost and California’s Robert Garcia — submitted a request for an official visit to El Salvador “advocate for due process and the return” of Abrego Garcia. In response, Comer slammed the Democrats for “seeking travel at Committee expense to meet with foreign gang members.”

On Friday, Comer said:

I write in response to your letter of April 15, 2025 requesting that I approve, from the Committee’s budget, official travel for you both to visit the country of El Salvador to meet with a foreign MS-13 gang member whose wife accused him of crimes and who is strongly suspected of human trafficking.

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. 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.

If you also wish to meet with him, you can spend your own money. But I will not approve a single dime of taxpayer funds for use on the excursion you have requested.

Your request is denied.

Although Comer refused to allow the use of taxpayer money for the trip, Republicans made a similar trip just days before his decision. Led by Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, several Republican congressmen joined an official delegation, visited the prison, and took photos of the trip for social media.

Though the source of funding for that trip has not been disclosed, Van Hollen said in a Sunday interview on Fox News that it — like his own trip — was taxpayer-funded.

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The post Comer Denies House Dems’ Request to Visit Abrego Garcia in Scathing Letter — Days After GOP-Led Visit to Same Prison first appeared on Mediaite.

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