Republicans Offer to Fund Democrats’ El Salvador Trips — But Only If Cameras Roll

Congressional Republicans are turning up the theatrics in the ongoing fight over deportations, making a tongue-in-cheek offer to pay for Democrats’ trips to El Salvador — as long as they livestream the whole thing.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) announced Monday they’ll cover plane tickets for any House Democrats wanting to visit El Salvador. The catch? They must provide real-time video proof of their encounters, presumably to document any friendly moments with alleged gang members. NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said, "If out-of-touch House Democrats are so desperate to cozy up to violent gang members, the least they can do is let Americans watch the show." He added, "We’ll pay for the plane tickets, they just can’t forget to smile for the camera while they sell out their constituents." Subtle as a sledgehammer, folks.

This comes after several progressive lawmakers made the trip to El Salvador in protest of Trump administration deportations. Among them, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland met last week with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant married to an American. The Trump administration claims Abrego Garcia is an MS-13 gang member; Democrats argue he’s a family man wrongly deported under aggressive immigration policies.

Currently, Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), and Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) are in El Salvador with Abrego Garcia’s family lawyer, working to secure his release. But, as Rep. Frost shared, they haven’t managed to meet with him yet. The group insists their trip wasn’t funded by taxpayers, though they haven’t said who picked up the tab.

All this drama is set against President Trump’s legal battles over deporting suspected gang members, particularly from groups like Tren de Aragua and MS-13. Democrats and human rights advocates argue the administration is denying fair process to deportees. Supporters of Trump’s policies claim that legal hearings and deportation orders are due process enough.

In a recent twist, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration must work to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., ordering his release from Salvadoran custody and insisting his case be handled as if he had never been deported.

Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to link Democrats with suspected criminals, especially as immigration and border security remain hot-button issues. The NRCC’s Senate counterpart, the NRSC, even released a vacation-style video inviting Democrats to make their El Salvador trips one-way, promising a front-row seat to what they called "Trump Derangement Syndrome in its purest form."

If only Congress could channel this much creativity into policy instead of travel pranks, maybe we’d finally see some action on immigration reform.