House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is personally signaling fellow Democrats It’s time to pause on a trip to El Salvador, which aims to highlight the deportation of Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a move that reflects growing internal tensions over how the party handles border security and immigration optics in the 2026 cycle.
Jeffries publicly said Democrats are committed to securing Abrego Garcia’s return from the infamous Salvador prison, but sources told Bluwark that the New York Democrats had blocked more lawmakers from traveling to the country.
One senior House Staff He explained his leadership position honestly: “They want to slow down what they have in El Salvador.”
“This is patently false and thinly supplied and implied,” said Christie Stevenson, a Jeffreys staff member. “When leader Jeffries says there’s “more ‘more'” pushback to this lawless regime, he means that. As leader Jeffries repeatedly said, House Democrats will never stop fighting for Abrego Garcia’s release. ”
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries will speak at a press conference held at Capitol on April 28, 2025. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)
This issue split the Democrats.
Progressive has accepted the Abrego Garcia incident as an unconstitutional deportation under President Donald Trump as a symbol of what they say. Updated immigration crackdown. However, moderates refer to the political risk of becoming increasingly uneasy and ralliding around people with checkered pasts.
Jeffries, who once demanded that Abrego Garcia be returned “just before he was killed,” has not publicly addressed whether he supports a strategy to send a parliamentary delegation to El Salvador.
D-MD. Senator Chris Van Hollen will meet Kilmer Abrego Garcia in San Salvador, El Salvador on April 17, 2025. (Senator Van Hollen’s office via Getty Images)
His spokesperson recently rejected a report that he had pulled back from the issue as “slim-procured” but did not deny the material when first contacted the breakwater.
The stakes are high. As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Abrego Garcia, deported alongside more than 200 others, reportedly had connections with the violent MS-13 gang and was named in 2022. Homeland Security Investigating human smuggling.
Rep. Maxine Dexter will speak at a press conference on the issue of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, held in San Salvador, El Salvador on April 21, 2025. (Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)
Although he has never been charged, he was stopped in transit with eight undocumented passengers, and Maryland court documents show a history of domestic violence, including a judge who labels him as a “violent repetitive offender.”
Nevertheless, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD. , and D-Fla. Democrats like Maxwell Frost official and D-Calif Robert Garcia have flew to El Salvador in recent weeks to draw attention to Abrego Garcia’s detention. Van Hollen’s visit sparked a meme online, especially with the now-unknown “Margarita Gate” incident.
Critics within the party are worried that they will continue to focus on incidents that are perceived as sympathetic to suspected deported gangs.
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“There should be moral debates,” a Democrat aide told Bluwork.
