Karoline Leavitt slams Chris Van Hollen over his taxpayer-funded trip to support deported Abrego Garcia

WASHINGTON, DC: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) on Monday, April 21, after it was revealed that his trip to El Salvador to show solidarity with deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom officials have linked to the violent MS-13 gang, was funded by taxpayers' money.

During an appearance on 'Fox & Friends', Leavitt criticized Hollen’s actions as a misuse of public resources and accused him of advocating for a known criminal, Fox News reported

Karoline Leavitt blasts Van Hollen for spending public funds on meeting with deported illegal immigrant

Speaking with Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, Karoline Leavitt didn’t mince words, saying, “He is an illegal alien, a foreign terrorist and a criminal MS-13 gang member who violated our country’s laws by coming here in the first place.”

She accused Van Hollen and fellow Democrats of using Easter weekend to champion a criminal over American citizens, saying, “Shame on Senator Chris Van Hollen and the entire Democratic Party, who wasted Easter Sunday going on every television show in the country to advocate for the return of an illegal criminal gang member.”

Leavitt argued that there’s a long trail of evidence linking Garcia to MS-13, pointing out that “two separate courts” and “multiple” law enforcement agencies had verified the connection. She said, “This is who the Democratic Party is advocating for. It is ridiculous.”

She added that President Donald Trump remains committed to doing exactly what the American people elected him to do, enforcing immigration laws and removing dangerous, undocumented criminals from the country.

Leavitt didn’t hold back as she slammed Democrats for what she described as turning a blind eye to the victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants.

Her remarks followed the emotional appearance of Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman allegedly murdered by an illegal El Salvadoran migrant in 2023, who recently spoke at a White House briefing.

“So the president will continue to do that while Democrats continue to trip over themselves while ignoring American citizens whose lives have been forever impacted by the actions and the crimes of these illegal criminals,” Leavitt said, using the Morin case to underscore her criticism.

Leavitt expressed frustration that the senator hadn't contacted Morin but had instead spent considerable time praising Abrego Garcia. “It's unbelievable,” she remarked. 

Leavitt also criticized Democrats more broadly for pushing to bring Garcia back, saying, “Not only is it a slap in the face to American citizens, whose lives have been put in danger, or in many cases, lost at the hands of these illegal alien criminal gang members, but it's also a slap in the face to the millions of legal immigrants, who came to the country the right way, waited their turn and paid their dues.”

Van Hollen defends taxpayer-funded trip to El Salvador amid growing criticism

Appearing on Fox News on Sunday, April 20, Senator Chris Van Hollen addressed mounting backlash surrounding his recent taxpayer-funded trip to El Salvador.

The visit, aimed at meeting deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, has sparked controversy due to allegations linking Garcia to the MS-13 gang.

Hollen, however, defended the trip as a standard congressional visit, pointing to similar travel by Republican lawmakers and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to El Salvador’s high-security prison, CECOT.

Responding to Morin’s criticism, Van Hollen expressed sympathy for her family’s pain. “My heart goes out to every Maryland family that is the victim of violence, regardless of the perpetrator, and that is why I am very glad… that a court of law has convicted her killer. That is where we litigate these issues,” he said.

Van Hollen maintained that the trip followed official procedures and served a critical purpose.

“That is where the Trump administration admitted that they had wrongfully detained and deported Abrego Garcia. My whole point here is if you deprive one man of his constitutional rights, you threaten the constitutional rights of everybody. I would hope that all of us would understand that principle,” he added.