Angry voters are once again showing their frustrations at elected officials over the Trump administration's policies. Now, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) faced constituents who protested over the president's refusal to bring back the Salvadoran immigrant who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador's mega-prison.
Grassley faced voters in an hour-long heated debate. While the audience shouted at him over different grievances, one question remained constant: "Are you going to bring that guy back from El Salvador?"
The question, originally posed by a man in the audience, was met with enthusiastic claps from many in the crowd of about 100.
"I'm not going to," Grassley said. Pressed to explain his stance, he added, "Because that's not a power of Congress."
The constituents seemed dissatisfied with his answer, The New York Times reported. The man that posed the question replied that the Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia's release. Others in the audience noted that the Senator chairs the Judiciary Committee, which oversees immigration policy and judges, prompting the senator to stammer, then fall silent and wait for the shouting to die down before trying to respond.
"El Salvador is an independent country," Grassley said. "The president of that country is not subject to our U.S. Supreme Court."
Grassley's confrontation with constituents is the latest in Republicans facing backlash for their support of the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) faced a large and testy audience at a town hall, with Reps. Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) also getting heated questioning.
Swing district Reps. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) all saw demonstrations outside their offices as well.
The recent trend led Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), the chair of the House GOP's campaign arm, to tell his fellow House Republicans in early March to stop holding in-person town halls. At the time, the protests stemmed from the Trump administration slashing government spending and laying off thousands of federal employees.
Republicans have largely dismissed the town hall uproar, baselessly claiming the presence of "paid troublemakers," people who attended the meetings across the country with the sole purpose of causing noise.
"There are people who do this as a profession, they're professional protesters," Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after Hudson's announcement. He said he thought it was "wise" to not "play into that" and added that tele-town halls were a good option for members to hear from their constituents.
In the current Congressional recess, most Republican House members have avoided in-person town halls. The few GOP lawmakers who have publicly advertised that they'll be holding town halls include Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Byron Donalds of Florida, and Grassley. However, both Greene and Donalds restricted registration only to residents of their respective districts.
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