As Democratic legislators prepare to travel to El Salvador in opposition to President Donald Trump's newly implemented immigration policies, one lawmaker has warned colleagues that they are playing right into the "trap" set for them by the president.
Various Democratic officials have expressed their intent to travel to the Central American nation in order to visit deportees being held at El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) and check in on conditions there.
One Democratic representative, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to Axios, referred to Trump's deportation policies as "soup du jour," meaning "soup of the day," stating that Democrats were all playing right into the president's hands.
The lawmaker continued to express their belief that Trump is "setting a trap for the Democrats, and like usual we're falling for it."
"Rather than talking about the tariff policy and the economy ... the thing where his numbers are tanking, we're going to go take the bait for one hairdresser," they told the outlet.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) are attempting to lead the travel of a congressional delegation to El Salvador. Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is going to ensure the safety of erroneously deported Maryland resident Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
The Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. after ruling that his deportation to El Salvador was unlawful, but both Trump and El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele expressed that they had no intention of assisting with Garcia's safe return during a meeting in the Oval Office on Monday.
Whether or not the Democrats will successfully bring a congressional delegation to El Salvador is not yet clear. House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) refused to comment on whether he would grant Garcia and Frost permission to lead such a delegation.
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