Democrat Politics

After being challenged by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the Trump administration is in a panicked, full-court press to defend their abduction of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia and send him to a dangerous prison in El Salvador.

Van Hollen visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on Abrego Garcia’s wellbeing and possibly secure his release. He was denied access to the man, who has a wife and two children at home, who has not been charged with a crime, and whom a judge granted protection from deportation in 2019.

“U.S. courts have determined that he was illegally abducted from the United States and now finds himself in the most notorious prison in El Salvador,” Van Hollen said in a video statement.

xI’ve been in El Salvador all day fighting for the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia.

The Trump Administration can lie all they want, but the Court said they failed to show he was part of MS-13. This is about bringing home a man they ADMIT should never have been abducted. I won’t rest until then.— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@vanhollen.senate.gov) 2025-04-17T00:52:36.792Z

“The Trump Administration can lie all they want, but the Court said they failed to show he was part of MS-13,” Van Hollen wrote in a post on the social media site Bluesky, alongside the video. “This is about bringing home a man they ADMIT should never have been abducted. I won’t rest until then.”

Democrats in the House have backed Van Hollen’s trip, and on Tuesday, two members of the House Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia of California and Maxwell Frost of Florida, requested that the committee’s chair, Republican James Comer, authorize an official congressional delegation to visit the prison where Abrego Garcia is being detained.

Republicans have expressed outrage at Democrats pushing to reunite the family.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt—who has a long track record of lying to the public—claimed without evidence on Wednesday that Abrego Garcia is a gang member and “foreign terrorist.”

According to court documents, the claim that Abrego Garcia is affiliated with the MS-13 gang is based on hearsay from a police detective who was later suspended.

To further emphasize the supposed threat from immigrants, Leavitt has also hosted Patty Morin, the mother of a woman killed by an undocumented immigrant. The right has often invoked the Morin case to justify its bigoted anti-immigrant positions.

Clearly frustrated that some in the media aren’t participating in the attack on immigrants, Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr complained and threatened Comcast over subsidiary MSNBC’s choice not to air the briefing—an editorial decision protected by the First Amendment. MSNBC, which airs via satellite and cable, is generally not subject to FCC licensing requirements—something that the head of the FCC should know.

In a Fox News appearance on Wednesday night, Attorney General Pam Bondi ratcheted up the rhetoric, arguing that Abrego Garcia is a “terrorist” and one of the MS-13 gang’s “top” members. She offered no evidence to corroborate those claims, and Abrego Garcia has been denied due process to answer such claims in court.

x

x
YouTube Video

Sebastian Gorka, the administration’s “counterterrorism czar” (who has ties to far-right extremists), claimed in a Newsmax interview on Wednesday that advocating for due process rights for Abrego Garcia could be seen as “aiding and abetting” a “terrorist” and grounds for federal charges.

xJUST IN: Deputy Assistant to the President and “Counterterrorism Czar” Sebastian Gorka says anyone advocating for due process for Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be viewed as “aiding and abetting a terrorist” and be federally charged. (h/t Philip Germain)— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2025-04-17T02:07:13.121Z

On Thursday morning, Republican Rep. Dan Meuser admitted that the Maryland man is not a terrorist but argued that “he’s a potential terrorist” and a “terrorist-watchlist person,” justifying the man’s abduction.

Republicans are under pressure with the situation they created. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa was angrily confronted on Tuesday by residents of his red-state constituency over the administration’s actions on Abrego Garcia.

The Republican meltdown is coming as opinion polls show the public uncomfortable with the Trump administration’s handling of immigration, a typically strong issue for the Republican Party.

A new poll from Civiqs for Daily Kos finds that 51% of registered voters somewhat or strongly disapprove of how Trump has handled immigration. Additionally, 63% of those surveyed said they oppose deporting migrants who are legally in the U.S.

Democrats are pushing to restore due process, and Republicans have responded by being overly defensive and reflexively dishonest—all while losing more and more public trust.

Campaign Action

A federal judge on Thursday will hear arguments in three cases from national Democrats and voting rights groups that are challenging President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on elections, which, among other changes, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

The Democratic National Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters Education Fund and others are seeking to block Trump’s sweeping overhaul of federal election processes, alleging that the changes he wants are unconstitutional.

The Republican president’s executive order says the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections” and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply.

It also aims to mandate major changes to election processes, including adding a proof-of-citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form and requiring all mail ballots to be received, rather than just postmarked, by Election Day nationwide.

The plaintiffs argue Trump’s order is illegal because it asserts power that he does not have over an independent agency. That agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, sets voluntary voting system guidelines and maintains the federal voter registration form.

The plaintiffs also argue the order violates the Constitution, which says that states — not the president — get to decide the “times, places and manner” of how elections are run. The Constitution’s so-called Elections Clause also gives Congress the power to “make or alter” election regulations, at least for federal office, but it doesn’t mention any presidential authority over election administration.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington, D.C., will consider the plaintiffs’ pleas for a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the order as the lawsuits play out. She instructed the parties to be prepared to discuss a range of topics, including whether the Election Assistance Commission can comply with Trump’s demands while following the law and whether the plaintiffs have standing to raise each of their claims.

Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department attorney and a White House adviser during President Joe Biden’s administration, said the Constitution is clear that the president has very little authority to regulate federal elections. But he said he expects the hearing will include debate over whether these groups have standing to sue and whether it is the appropriate time to bring a lawsuit.

“This is a pretty easy case when it comes to the legal merits, but whether they get to the legal merits is not trivial,” he said.

The hearing comes as other lawsuits against Trump’s executive order are pending.

Earlier this month, 19 Democratic attorneys general asked the court to reject Trump’s executive order. The following day, Washington and Oregon, two states that hold all-mail elections, followed up with their own lawsuit against the order.

Campaign Action

 Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer pulled funding for programs that fought child labor, trafficking, slavery, and other forms of forced labor around the world—and bragged about it. 

But now her shameful victory lap is coming back to haunt her, and it’s going to cost $80 million. 

Three nonprofits filed a joint lawsuit Tuesday, claiming that Chavez-DeRemer and the Department of Labor’s funding cuts were illegal. 

“Over [86] million children around the world are not working because of the International Labor Association’s programs—that have now been terminated,” Shawna Bader-Blau, executive director of the Solidarity Center said during a press briefing Wednesday. 

Daily Kos contacted the Department of Labor for comment but did not hear back.

Solidarity Center, which was one of the nonprofits axed during Chavez-DeRemer’s massive budget cuts, fought against child and forced labor in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan. Solidarity Center is joined by Global March Against Child Labour and American Institutes for Research in the lawsuit. 

The Trump administration has claimed that nonprofits like Solidarity Center are an “America Last” program, because on the surface they aren’t directly helping U.S. workers—completely ignoring the fact that what happens in other countries impacts the United States.

As a matter of fact, preventing forced labor in other countries is extremely “America First.” 

Programs like Solidarity Center and Global March Against Child Labour are designed so “American workers are not competing against forced labor, child labor, and abusive working conditions,” Bader-Blau said.

Republicans have long made the argument that these programs don’t deserve funding because they can’t actually prove any positive impact their making. 

As for Solidarity Group, the nonprofit has made strides across the globe. In Mexico, it helped establish an 11% increase in wages, create labor centers, and train union organizers. 

In Uzbekistan, a country with a long history of child and forced labor, the Solidarity Center was one of the founding members that helped push the government to implement reforms, which ultimately ended forced labor in 2021. The nonprofit continued to work in the country to sustain workers’ rights. 

The Trump administration is decimating programs that help the good of humanity.

The Department of Labor canceled 69 active agreements with the Bureau of International Labor Affairs  in 40 countries last month.

Solidarity Center alone has had to pull out of projects in Mexico supporting workers’ unions. 

“The labor movements in countries around the world have fought to make sure that workers share in the prosperity of global trade, and that comes through eradicating extreme abuse in our global supply chains and fundamental affirmative commitments to workers’ rights to organize, advocate, and bargain to raise wages. Our end goal is that fight,” Bader-Blau said.

As organizations like Solidarity Center gear up for a fight, Bader-Blau said they’re not the only ones noticing the Trump administration’s egregious behavior—members of Congress are taking note, too. 

“They’re watching this. They’re not happy,” Bader-Blau warned. “[They’re] preparing their own ways of resisting.” 

Campaign Action

The Trump administration has been busy hacking away at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the results have been devastating.

David Sugerman, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that a large number of measles cases are going unreported—and that the government’s ability to respond has been strained by recent federal budget cuts.

“We do believe that there’s quite a large amount of cases that are not reported and underreported,” Sugerman said during a rare meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Tuesday. 

“In working very closely with our colleagues in Texas, in talking with families, they may mention prior cases that have recovered and never received testing, other families that may have cases and never had sought treatment,” he explained.

Sugerman is the first CDC official the Trump administration has allowed to directly address the public about the growing measles outbreak.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has taken an axe to public health, with extreme layoffs, budget cuts, and endless anti-vaccine misinformation.

“We are scrapping to find the resources and personnel needed to provide support to Texas and other jurisdictions,” he said. 

Sugerman pointed to the $11.4 billion in COVID-19 funding cuts ordered by President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy last month, which he said has created “funding limitations” in places like Texas. 

The funding previously supported clinics that treated illnesses like measles and supported vaccination programs.

Across 25 states, nearly 750 cases have been reported—most of which are in Texas—with growing outbreaks in New Mexico and Kansas. The majority of cases have been among unvaccinated children, with 2 children and one adult marking the first U.S. measles deaths in more than a decade and the first child measles death since 2003.

Sugerman estimated that each measles case may end up costing the government between $30,000 and $50,000 for a public health response.

Meanwhile, Kennedy was once again pushing misinformation about the measles vaccine, calling it “leaky” and saying that it “wanes,” during a separate press event on Tuesday.

“He’s dead wrong, the measles vaccine protects you for the rest of your life. The notion that it’s a leaky vaccine is dead wrong,” Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia told USA Today. 

Kenedy’s misinformation session was in promotion of an ass-backward public health policy undermining vaccines in general. 

“We can’t rely simply on the vaccine. We also have to know how to treat measles,” he said.

Kennedy’s time as HHS secretary has been marked thus far by dangerous budget cuts and even more dangerous hirings of quack anti-vaccine charlatans. 

The results are in, and the people are dying.

Campaign Action

Support your friendly neighborhood independent comic strip: SIGN UP FOR THE INNER HIVE and you’ll get each week’s Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before publication. Plus other exclusive content like extra comics, commentary, juicy gossip, puzzles, jokes, and sneak peeks at australopithecines. Please do join the team that makes it possible for Tom the Dancing Bug to exist.

Get the new book that explains it all. “IT’S THE GREAT STORM, TOM THE DANCING BUG!” collects all Tom the Dancing Bug comics from 2020-2023 (and more!)! Now accepting orders right HERE! Get your personalized / signed / sketched / swagged copy while it’s still legal to buy. “Intricate, incisive, shape-shifting”  – The New Yorker

Sign up for the free weekly Tom the Dancing Bug Review! Not nearly as good as joining the Inner Hive, but it’s free!

Follow @RubenBolling on Bluesky and/or Mastodon. Or, if you must: Threads, Facebook and Instagram.

Related | The Trump administration wants you in the mines