Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern took issue with members of his party who say that focusing so much attention on the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador is a distraction.
McGovern, a senior member of the House Democratic Caucus who has traveled to El Salvador to investigate human rights abuses going back to his time as a congressional aide in the 1980s, argued that Democrats would be giving in to the Republican playbook by avoiding the subject and focusing solely on issues like tariffs.
“What would he have us do, say nothing?” McGovern, who represents a district in Massachusetts, said in an interview with NOTUS in response to comments made by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week at a news conference. “Maybe it’s inconvenient to talk about things like the Constitution and due process right now, and would rather be talking about other things. But, I mean, we have to react to what’s unfolding before us.”
“To allow Mr. Garcia’s due process to be denied to him, what does that say about us? That we’re more interested in what polls well than we are doing what’s right? I’m of the belief that voters will reward you if they think you’re taking a stand for what is right and what is just. By the way, you can walk and chew gum at the same time.”
Last week, Newsom called the attention on Abrego Garcia’s deportation “the distraction of the day” and said that Republicans are discussing it because they don’t “want this debate on the tariffs.” Meanwhile, Democrats including Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who represents Abrego Garcia, and several House lawmakers have traveled to El Salvador to bring attention to Abrego Garcia’s case.
Republicans are attacking Democrats on the issue; the National Republican Congressional Committee even offered to “pick up the tab” for Democrats who want to make a similar trip.
Abrego Garcia’s detainment, which the Trump administration initially acknowledged as an error and one Republican senator called a “screw up,” has become a major test for the courts. The Trump administration has been ordered to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia, but has since said it does not have the ability to bring him back.
The Trump administration has sent flights of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, another test for the courts. And multiple members of Trump’s cabinet have also traveled to El Salvador since he took office.
McGovern has been traveling to El Salvador since 1983 to advocate against human rights abuses in the county. He’s seen what he described as “horrible things” there over the years, and said that he’s met friends who were tortured and murdered by the government over the years. He most recently traveled to the country in November in remembrance of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter who were killed in the country by U.S.–backed troops 35 years ago.
McGovern first started working on issues related to El Salvador while working under former Rep. Joe Moakley, who also had a strong interest in the country during his time in Congress.
The lawmaker said he’s been tracking U.S.-El Salvador relations closely as the Trump administration builds on its friendly relationship with El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele. McGovern tends to time his annual trips toward the end of the year, but said he’d be willing to fly back earlier if he thought it could be helpful for Abrego Garcia.
McGovern has been critical of President Donald Trump’s approach to El Salvador. Bukele recently visited the White House and said he has no power to return Abrego Garcia.
Bukele, who was first elected in 2019, was holding Abrego Garcia with other deportees in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, on behalf of the U.S. The prison is relatively new and is part of Bukele’s crackdown on El Salvador’s gangs. It is known for its human rights abuses. (Abrego Garcia has reportedly since been transferred to another facility.)
“I can’t believe that this is the United States of America,” McGovern said. “I can’t believe that we are intentionally deporting people, who in many cases have done nothing wrong by the way, to a prison in El Salvador that is notorious for being a place where people are mistreated, people are isolated, people are tortured, people die.”
McGovern says he’s held several meetings across his district and at college campuses, hearing from many concerned students about Abrego Garcia’s deportation as well as the arrest of foreign students by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He says that ignoring Trump’s deportations could put students at risk.
“Could Trump say, ‘I don’t like what you’re posting on your social media, so therefore any federal financial aid you’re getting is frozen?’” he said, describing students’ concerns. “Or could he put pressure on my university or my college to say, ‘You need to get rid of people who post things that I don’t like?’ This is also a threat to academic freedom. It’s a threat to freedom in general.”
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Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.