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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Monday after he admitted that his trip to El Salvador to meet a deported illegal immigrant was paid for by taxpayers.
Van Hollen took heat from Republicans and one of his constituents, Angel Mom Patty Morin, after he flew to El Salvador in an effort to bring home deported illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the White House maintains is an MS-13 gang member.
On "Fox & Friends" Monday, Leavitt rebuked Van Hollen and said the American public should know "the truth" about Abrego Garcia.
"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," Leavitt told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen for taking a taxpayer-funded trip to El Salvador to meet with deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia last week. (Fox News)
"Shame on Sen. 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," she declared.
Leavitt said there was a "litany" of evidence proving Garcia’s ties to the gang that had been confirmed by "two different courts" and by "multiple" law enforcement officers.
"This is who the Democratic Party is advocating for. It is ridiculous," she slammed.
Leavitt said President Donald Trump would continue to do what voters elected him to do in enforcing immigration laws and deporting illegal criminals from the country.
MOST AMERICANS SUPPORT DEPORTING AT LEAST SOME ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, POLL FINDS
President Trump holds up an image of alleged MS-13 tattoos on Abrego Garcia's knuckles. (President Trump/Truth Social)
Leavitt claimed that the majority of Americans support the deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
"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, referring to the family of Maryland mother Rachel Morin, who was brutally killed by an illegal El Salvadoran migrant in 2023.
Rachel Morin's mother Patty spoke at a White House briefing last week, where she accused Van Hollen of "barely" acknowledging her daughter's brutal murder.
Leavitt said the senator hadn't reached out to Morin but had spent hours "fawning" over Abrego Garcia.
"It's unbelievable," she criticized.
Mother of Rachel Morin, Patty, gives her take on Sen. Chris Van Hollen's, D-Md., visit to Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador. (Getty Images/Fox News)
Leavitt also took aim more broadly at Democrats who have been advocating for Abrego Garcia's return.
"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," she added.
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On "Fox News Sunday," Van Hollen defended his trip to El Salvador as being paid for by taxpayers like other congressional trips, referencing recent visits to El Salvador megaprison CECOT by a group of Republican legislators and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Van Hollen responded to the criticism from Morin, saying, "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.
"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."
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
