MAGA Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), who is running for governor in Florida to replace term-limited Republican Ron DeSantis, is criticizing Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) for traveling to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant who was living in Maryland before being deported to a Salvadoran mega prison.
Note: The Trump administration admitted to making an error by sending Abrego Garcia to the prison, but claims it cannot release him from the prison and continues to refer to Abrego Garcia as a member of the crime gang, MS-13, an accusation it has not proven in court through due process.
As seen below on Newsmax, Donalds slammed Van Hollen for using taxpayer funds to travel to El Salvador: “This is the buffoonery of the left. Democrats dine with MS-13 ON OUR DIME. Republicans DEPORT THEM. We are NOT THE SAME.”
This morning, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) admitted he used TAXPAYER FUNDS to travel to El Salvador to dine with a deported, illegal alien, MS-13 terrorist.
This is the buffoonery of the left.
Democrats dine with MS-13 ON OUR DIME.
Republicans DEPORT THEM.
We are NOT THE SAME. pic.twitter.com/Yu7uVh53Hi— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) April 21, 2025
Donalds’s comments are receiving backlash from voters on both sides of the aisle.
While MAGA supporters are asking Donalds “What are you going to do about it?!” and “Who authorized this trip?”, Democrats are calling out the Republican’s purported hypocrisy.
One objector to Donalds’s comments replied: “Trump uses taxpayer funding to play golf. You tag along when he uses it to go to a UFC fight. Sit down.”
Another chimed in: “If we can afford $3 million every time your orange daddy goes golfing, we can afford a round-trip ticket to El Salvador.” (See note below.)
Van Hollen has tried to emphasize a distinction between what he is doing (advocating for due process) and what Donalds accuses him of doing, which is defending a “terrorist.” The Senator says he is not defending Abrego Garcia, nor even proclaiming that the incarcerated man is not what the Trump administration says he is.
Instead, Van Hollen asserts, he is defending Abrego Garcia’s rights to a hearing on any charges brought against him. “I’m not vouching for the man, I’m vouching for the man’s rights,” Van Hollen said in the interview below.
Van Hollen on Fox News Sunday: “I’m not vouching for the man. I’m vouching for the man’s rights. His constitutional rights to due process.” pic.twitter.com/WfqArQTgX5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2025
[Note on presidential travel: President Trump reportedly costs the government nearly $800,000 on many weekends to travel from the White House to Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Some sources estimate the total cost of a single Trump Florida trip at over $3 million. Still other sources cite a figure of $240K per day. The discrepancy is attributable to various security concerns and specifics. Fact is Mar-a-Lago or not, any president’s travel is expensive. Eight years of Barack Obama’s travel expenses reportedly totaled more than $100M.]