3d ago

Cory Booker to visit El Salvador in effort to return wrongly deported man to US

www.theguardian.com Cory Booker to visit El Salvador in effort to return wrongly deported man to US

Democrats press Trump administration to follow supreme court order to bring back Kilmar Ábrego García

Van Hollen and Booker showing how representatives in government should be working for their constituents. I hope their aim is to be as annoying as possible until something good comes of it, but I worry Bukele will just arrest them and further erode the numbers we have in Congress.

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They need to stop this 1 at a time thing. Get like 40 members of Congress, Senators and Representatives. Show up at CECOT with cameras live streaming and demand to be admitted. When they refuse, force your way in.
I don't believe anyone in El Salvador, including Bukele and the goons staffing the prison, want to have a live stream of them assaulting/arresting a bunch of US members of Congress. And if they do, maybe that'll help wake some Republican voters up to the fascism.
- What a strange, absurdly bad idea.
- The Rs would celebrate the Ds getting detained in El Salvadore. Everyone going together would be risky as F. If they all get detained, there are no Ds to push back against this shit.
  
  Uh.... how exactly are any of them pushing back on anything right now?
  
  Excellent argument. We have no constituents to begin with. Time to increase protests.
  
  Protests? We're less than a week from martial law. The time for beliefs of peaceful protest is done.
  
  Peaceful demonstrations have ALWAYS played a part in every successful social movement. They shouldn't be the ONLY thing people are doing. They should be paired with more radical strategic actions. But solely relying on violence is also a losing strategy. We should embrace a diversity of tactics, not shout down people who are out there trying to do something.
  
  I read Donald wants to make those illegal-he wants it like Hungary.
- Honestly, I'm done trying to work with Republicans.
  
  Oh, I don't think a single Republican would join in on this, and I wouldn't want those fascists to take part anyways.
  
  They are too busy whining that they are scared of the monster they created.
  
  Nah. They like what Trump is doing. They are all 100% complicit in it.
  
  https://www.mediaite.com/tv/we-are-all-afraid-republican-senator-admits-colleagues-are-terrified-of-being-punished-for-criticizing-trump/
  
  Fear is not an excuse for complicity. They all have the option to resign in protest if they're really that principled about it. But they're not. They care more about keeping a position of power.
  
  Yeah, that's kinda my point.
- The cynic in me knows that since it would be only D's going down there, the fascists would use their absence to cram some shit through. The smart play would be to send only congresspeople and keep the senators here to make sure that nothing Mike LovesJohnson slides up can pass filibuster and get to the Diet Coke Desk.
  
  That's not really a concern at all. They haven't been using Congress to pass anything thus far. They've just been doing it all through Executive Orders, so it doesn't really matter what Congress can or can't pass.
  Plus, that's not how Congress works, either. Republicans hold a majority in both houses. In the House, if all Republicans vote together there's literally nothing Democrats can do (within the normal rules of how Congress functions) to stop them. It doesn't matter if every single Democrat is there or none of them are. They have the same power. And the only difference in the Senate is the existence of the filibuster, but they don't need any Democrats there to use it. They just threaten to filibuster any given piece of legislation and it requires 60 votes to pass (technically, for cloture, then 50+1 to pass, but the effect is 60 to pass). Again, it doesn't matter if all Democrats are present or none are. Their power is exactly the same.
  
  Found the guy in charge of the DNC. After Elsalvador the 40 dems can go to Gaza and sing Kumbaya. Lots of great opportunities for photo ops there. Anything but writing or passing legislation am I right! Fire up those private jets its vacation time before the vacation! and then it's time to get together and pass a 5 trillion dollar tax cut. Then no more legislating for the year, and back to those photo opportunities.
  
  Anything but writing or passing legislation am I right!
  How do you propose a party that doesn't control any branches of government pass legislation? And what do you think that would accomplish when the regime has already shown they're willing to ignore the law and courts whenever they want?
  You want them to just sit in their offices and do the exact same thing they've been doing for the past decade? That's how we got here.
  Yet 1 single Senator taking a trip down to El Salvador was enough to scare the Salvadoran government to let someone out of CECOT for the first time ever, even just temporarily to meet with Van Hollen. And you call this just a photo op? Just 1 guy taking a flight and hosting a press conference was enough to scare them into cracking. And you're saying he should have stayed home to write legislation that'd never even get a vote, let alone get passed into law?
  You are a deeply unserious person.
  
  See you’re really exposing your age here because you can’t remember a time when we did bipartisan legislation which makes you younger than 25 so maybe you can hold off on the insults for a bit until your ball is fully drop
  
  I'm 39 years old, so try again.
- That's a bad move.
  
  I disagree.
  
  Bukele is an authoritarian asshole who is friendly with Trump. You want the entire Democrat rep crew to get held on bogus charges in a foreign country because Trump sees an opportunity?
  Think.
  
  Just 1 single Senator was enough to scare them into backtracking on their previous denial and grant a face-to-face meeting with Abrego Garcia. He's been locked back up now, but, as far as I'm aware, this was the first time anyone locked up in CECOT has ever been let out even on a short-term basis to meet with someone outside the concentration camp.
  And that's what just 1 Senator was able to accomplish. The bad PR of denying him was enough to scare them into it. So my question is, what could 40 manage to accomplish?
  
  It will manage an international incident, and Trump arranging arrests of "accidents". In the world we live in now, it's not a good idea.
  
  That didn't happen when just 1 Senator went and didn't live stream his visit. If they really wanted to, they could have claimed he did something violent or something. There'd have been no way to prove otherwise. And he was able to get them to crack just by holding a press conference. The bad PR from 1 guy getting denied scared them so much that they let him meet Abrego Garcia.
  So why do you think they'd do that if there was a large group and the entire thing was being live streamed?
  
  NECAUSE ITS FORTY. Dude, I don't see why you're not getting this. There are 45 currently sitting. Why in the hell would you send 40 and get them arrested or killed? You don't see the flaw in that logic?
  
  First, I said Representatives and Senators. There are 260 Democrats in Congress (well, 258 +2 independent who caucus with Dems), not 45. But that's beside the point. What are they doing for us in Congress right now? Absolutely nothing. Hell, a bunch of Dem Senators are acting like Vichy collaborationists helping the fascists confirm appointments and pass their CR. They're actively working against us by just sitting in Congress.
  But even that's beside the point. They're not going to arrest or kill a bunch of sitting US members of Congress. Even just saying 'no' to 1 of them was such a bad look that they completely folded and, for the fist time ever, let someone out of CECOT, even just temporarily. They've NEVER let anyone out before, and Van Hollen just showing up on his own scared them enough to crack.
  Why do you think an even greater number would scare them less?
  
  You assume they were scared. Their not. This is an idiot's attempt to turn the tables with PR: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/apr/18/donald-trump-immigration-tariffs-harvard-jerome-powell-us-politics-news-live-updates
  Trump's team definitely was coordinating this all the way. Even the allowed meeting.
  
  Trump lashed out in the same way he does against everyone who does something he doesn't like and you take that as proof he's some kind of mastermind behind everything? Man, do you not understand Trump at all.
  
  I want somebody to do something more than a photo op. Yes, Bukele is an authoritarian just like Trump. But Trump relies on a large amount of his base thinking that he's in the right. I don't believe he nor Bukele want the optics of concentration camp guards assaulting a bunch of members of the US Congress. And I don't believe that a bunch of concentration camp guards would be willing to assault them on livestream to the entire world.
  Show up with bodyguards. They don't need to be armed, but be physically intimidating and insist that they're going to enter and find the Americans who are being wrongfully detained.
  All the Democrats, or really anyone in opposition to Trump, have been doing is playing it safe. If nobody is willing to take risks then the fascists will never feel threatened. If they had the balls to try what I suggested, one of two things will happen. They guards could get violent and assault, arrest, or even kill some members of the US Congress. That would spark outrage in the US. The opposition to Trump would grow and there would be even more motivation to stop him from sending people to foreign gulags.
  More likely, IMO, the guards would back down and the members of Congress would prove that Bukele and Trump aren't as all powerful as they want to seem. They'd also get live video inside CECOT to show the world exactly how horrendous it is.
  
  That's not really the point though. The reality is that Trump's psychos find loopholes, and they have one now.
  We can either deal with the illegal nature of what happened to get innocent people kidnapped to El Salvador in the first place (Boasberg is working on that), or we can deal with the actual political influence of the Democrats, which isn't much but a whisper and bet at this point.
  Bukele isn't going to budge because he feels safe with Trump. Make him less safe, and he will cave.
  
  This:
  The reality is that Trump’s psychos find loopholes, and they have one now.
  Directly contradicts this:
  We can either deal with the illegal nature of what happened to get innocent people kidnapped to El Salvador in the first place (Boasberg is working on that), or we can deal with the actual political influence of the Democrats, which isn’t much but a whisper and bet at this point.
  The fascists aren't going to bow down and accept defeat just because a judge orders them to or Democrats vote really hard in Congress. They don't play by the rules. If/when Boasberg finds them in contempt and orders they send someone to El Salvador to bring people back, they'll ignore him and probably find a way to get him out of office. Democrats have already shown all their political "power" is completely impotent. It's not that it "isn’t much but a whisper and bet," it's non-existent. There is NOTHING we can do to help these people just by sticking to the rules of how politics are normally done.
  I am talking about making Bukele feel less safe. You do that by directly challenging the base of his power. The base of his power is fear of getting sent to CECOT. Challenge that. Prove that people can go there and get people out of it. All they've been doing so far is political theater.
  
  Your entire mindset is weak and simple about the problems at hand. You aren't think multiple steps out.
  You seem to want violence without consequences. You also just seem to want everything on a platter. It doesn't work that way.
  Your entire methodology is like this:
  Kill fascists
  ????¿??
  Win
  
  Wow, are you so incredibly far off.
  
  This is a photo op. Sorry they are legislators using tax payer money to take a photo. These trips yeild no results in preventing further people to be deported. Nice try tho!
  The republicans are showing videos from inside CECOT. They also came down for photo ops, their voters love it. Your not changing any minds, its a photo op for your side. You're still going to the camp. Take a photo when you get there this fall.
  
  What is your suggestion? Van Hollen got them to crack just by holding a press conference. I'm suggesting they continue this line of attack, but to a greater magnitude.
  Get a list of everyone that's been sent down there and get every Democrat who represents all 300+ of them in Congress, every single Democratic Representative and Senator from their states/districts. All of them go down and insist on seeing all of their constituents. Do what Van Hollen did, but on a larger scale.
  What's your suggestion? Stay at home and try the same thing they've been doing for the past decade?
  
  Here’s a wild idea. How about he uses his massive platform to organize some protests and stand in the front line with the rest of us?
  
  And how will that accomplish more than his trip to El Salvador did?
  
  Because organizing voters and creating policy and helping it get passed is his actual job? I’m not sure to be honest. Just seems like sending 40 people to release one prisoner while ignoring the institution violating the prisoners constitutional rights is a bigger picture issue. What does freeing this one citizen really do in the grand scheme of things? Just let him get kidnapped in the middle of the night and go through it all over again once he’s back?
  I feel like you’re trying to justify your own in action through declaring this meaningful action. Does that resonate with you?
  
  while ignoring the institution violating the prisoners constitutional rights
  Who ever said anything about ignoring anything?
  Freeing one guy is the start. It proves that getting sent to these concentration camps isn't a one-way ticket. And it gives him the opportunity to go public with the conditions there and how he was treated. That's going to motivate people organizing a hell of a lot more than a Senator giving a speech at a rally ever would.
  Why are you pretending like this is about just saving one guy?
  I feel like you’re trying to justify your own in action through declaring this meaningful action. Does that resonate with you?
  No, that doesn't resonate with me in the slightest. I feel like you're trying to justify your own inaction by pretending like a Senator sitting in his office writing legislation nobody will ever read has some kind of impact on anything.
  
  Ya if I was a senator, I would probably be visiting my republican colleagues districts. I encourage people to bring the protests directly to their representatives houses. Protest their free movement.
  My protest sign is a picture of the Jan 6 gallows. I am calling up my Republican senator every day and letting him know that we are very angry and aware of what’s going on.
  I want my legislatures legislating that’s my idea. I want them forming voting coalition in the house of Congress to stop this madness. They are not that many votes. There is no chance in hell that all 300+ Republican Congress people are in on this grift. there’s no way they have the strength to continue this grift if their houses are under siege by angry mobs
  
  There is no chance in hell that all 300+ Republican Congress people are in on this grift.
  This is a rather naive understanding of American politics. Yes, they're all in on it. Stopping hoping for the nice Republicans. They don't exist. They're all fascists.
  Your suggestion is to keep trying to appeal to the better nature of Republicans. That's exactly what the Democrats have been doing for the past decade. Hell, it's what they've been doing since 2009. It doesn't work. They don't have a better nature. They want the fascism.
  There is NOTHING Democrats can do in Congress. Trying to protest to Republican politicians directly isn't going to get them to change their minds. Van Hollen did more in a single trip to El Salvador to resist the fascists than anyone has done in Congress in 10+ years.
  
  Well, if they’re all fascist, then the 70% of Americans who did not vote for this shit need to drag them out of their office and hire someone who’s not a fascist. They are not afraid of the people who are in the communities they represent. And look at you you don’t instill much fucking fear. So maybe we should be focused on targeting the fascist where they live and work. Instead of ya know what ever it is we’re doing to make the next feel good headline about how we’ve slowed the fascist onslaught by a couple inches hooray
  
  You are really just completely missing the point here. Motivating people to get out and join me in the streets is exactly what all of this is about.
  
  We still have allies we can call on as long as we get rid of the orange. THAT is where the problem comes. We have to deal with this shit on our own. Nobody is coming to help Americans regardless of sides. China has no interest in helping us and they have us by the balls. They know that American manufacturing is weak and we have literally nothing to counter it.
- You can't force your way into a foriegn country, or prison, or force a president to do anything.
  60 members of the senate can stay at home, in their office and pass a law to prevent this. What the fuck is this real world OZ TV braint rot shit i just read.
  
  The Republicans control the Senate and they want this to happen. There are not 60 Senators, let alone a majority, who are opposed to sending people to concentration camps.
  Playing by the normal rules of politics is how we got here. Staying in their offices and just voting in the Senate is what they've been doing for the past decade to oppose Trump, and the fascists have only gotten stronger. What the fuck do you think that's going to accomplish?
  Van Hollen on his own went down there and was able to cajole them into giving him a face-to-face meeting with Abrego Garcia. They were so afraid of the optics of just a single Senator getting denied an face-to-face meeting that they went back on their previous denial and granted it. I'd love to see what a whole crowd could accomplish.
  
  Well then risking our Democratic senators lives for a picture. Doesn’t seem like a great idea. Does it seems like we should be pressuring those Republican Congress people to resign because they’re in violation of their oaths. How’s that for a fucking message?
  
  I'm not talking about just getting a picture. And you think Republicans will resign because....why? Because we asked them to? Why would they? This is all exactly what they want.
  
  Excuse me for not being realistic enough for your fantasy, I’m sure saudis will take our political dissidents. You understand my point that feeing one person does not stop more people form encountering the same fate
  
  I never said it would stop anything. But it's a hell of a lot more than sitting at home writing legislation that will never get a vote and pretending like politics as usual is how anything works anymore.
  
  Well to my point it sounds like they around rounding up more people and sending them to El Salvador today. Maybe they can talk to all of them when they’re down there and get a picture of each one. Or the next 200 that they send on Easter or the next 200 they send the day after that
- Such a dumb, American-centric idea. No Central American banana-republic dictator is going to care that they are Senators/ Reps, they'll just mow them down with machine guns. The fact that it is livestreamed only demonstrates how powerful they are to the entire world.
  Their ONLY fear would be retaliation from the US military, but HitlerPig won't do that. He already greenlit the torture murder of Adnan Khashoggi so that it wouldnt derail his arms talks with Saudi Arabia. Not only will he not respond to killing a bunch of elected Democrats, he'd publicly praise it.
  
  I don't think you have a very strong grasp on international politics.
  
  Said the guy who just wrote a delusional fan fiction. Looking for a TV win instead of a policy win. I'm not sure you understand much of anything outside of creative writing.
  
  Van Hollen on his own going down there was enough to cajole them into giving him a face-to-face meeting with Abrego Garcia. Two days ago half the people on the internet were convinced Abrego Garcia was already dead, but just 1 Senator was able to disprove that. The government of El Salvador was so afraid of the optics of denying just a single Senator that they backed down from their initial refusal and completely capitulated.
  And you think it's fantasy that a larger number could accomplish more? You are clearly not paying the slightest bit of attention.
  
  And then Trump opens up another prison in Venezuela and we’re right back to where we were. Needing the legislator to legislate.
  
  ...in Venezuela? One of the 2 countries in the western hemisphere we don't have diplomatic relations with? A country Trump tried to do a violent coup in last time he was in power? You think they're going to build a concentration camp for Trump and start taking prisoners?
  You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, and it really shows.
  
  Venezuela is already is a concentration camp for venezuelans LMAO 🤣

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