A social media feud has erupted between President Donald Trump’s administration and Democrat Rep. Glenn Ivey, the latest lawmaker to defend criminal illegal aliens.
Ivey, a Democrat from Maryland, spent his Memorial Day weekend in El Salvador, pushing to see Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the deported MS-13 gang member who has become the Democrats’ poster child for immigrants’ rights and due process.
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security posted a response to Ivey’s video on X, claiming he was turned away and barred from seeing Abrego Garcia, his constituent, in a Salvadoran prison.
Today, I was denied access to seeing my constituent, Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If there is nothing to hide, cut the crap. Let his lawyer and I check on him.
@CASAforall pic.twitter.com/V310GDmIc4— Rep. Glenn Ivey (@RepGlennIvey) May 26, 2025
“Congressman, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a confirmed MS-13 gang member, wife beater, human trafficker, and illegal alien from El Salvador—not your constituent,” DHS posted on X. “While the mainstream media and politicians are fighting to bring a foreign terrorist and gang member back to U.S. soil, @POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem are fighting for the victims of alien crime and putting the safety of Americans FIRST.”
In response to that post, Ivey retorted on X on Wednesday: “Respectfully @Sec_Noem, if you are so confident about your illegal deportation then you should present your “evidence” in court. Follow the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling and bring Kilmar home now.” #DueProcess
Respectfully @Sec_Noem, if you are so confident about your illegal deportation then you should present your “evidence” in court. Follow the Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling and bring Kilmar home now. #DueProcess https://t.co/Y4Z4J07zzh
— Rep. Glenn Ivey (@RepGlennIvey) May 28, 2025
That prompted another reply on X from DHS late Wednesday afternoon, defending the administration’s position on Abrego Garcia:
“Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again. Advocating for an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and wife beater over ACTUAL Maryland constituents victimized by illegal alien crime is appalling.”
Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again.
Advocating for an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and wife beater over ACTUAL Maryland constituents victimized by illegal alien crime is appalling. https://t.co/cLxUSWFvCV
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 28, 2025
It’s the latest saga in an increasingly contentious and polarizing issue for Republicans and Democrats as the Trump administration tries to clean up the mess left behind by Biden’s reckless open border policies.
President Donald Trump has taken a hardline stance on illegal immigration and plans to uphold his campaign promise to carry out mass deportations, while activist judges block him at every turn.
Democrats and violent protestors also continue to ramp up anti-ICE rhetoric and threats against federal agents. DHS on Wednesday announced that ICE arrested Ramon Morales Reyes, a 54-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, for threatening to assassinate President Trump, according to a news release.
Ivey flew to El Salvador over the weekend to conduct a welfare check on the “Maryland man” who made national headlines after he was deported to his home country in March.
When Ivey returned to Dulles International Airport on Tuesday, he spoke with reporters and said he was “angry” and “stonewalled” by the Salvadoran government, Fox News Digital reports.
Ivey said he did not use taxpayer money to fund his trip. He was accompanied by Abrego Garcia’s attorney and a union representative.
Ivey said he made arrangements in advance with embassies in the U.S. and in El Salvador to meet Abrego Garcia in prison. Once they arrived, Salvadorian officials said he had to obtain a permit at a location 90 minutes away, which blocked his plans.
“And I won’t tell you what I said, but I mean, it’s ridiculous that an international delegation would get that kind of treatment, especially when we’re making this kind of request,” Ivey told reporters. “It was a clear run around and not a way that a foreign government should be treating the Congress of the United States.”
Democrats and sympathetic news outlets continue to cast Abrego Garcia as an innocent family man who was wrongly deported, when court and police records paint a different picture.
Abrego Garcia is an illegal alien with ties to the MS-13 gang and had several run-ins with police between 2019 and 2022. He told police he illegally entered the United States around 2011 and had no basis for seeking asylum. Two judges determined he is likely to be a member of MS-13 and could be deported to a third country.
He associated with known MS-13 gang members, wore gang-affiliated clothing, and has tattoos representing the MS-13 gang, according to a news release by DHS and police reports. He was picked up for loitering with other gang members and had rolls of cash and drugs.
His wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought multiple protective orders against Abrego Garcia for domestic violence, with handwritten statements and audio recordings that have surfaced since his deportation.
She claimed he punched her, scratched her, and ripped off her shirt, and bruised her, along with threatening her and detaining her against her will.
During a 2022 traffic stop, Abrego Garcia was found driving without a valid license with a car full of people and no luggage. Tennessee Highway Patrol suspected him of human or labor trafficking, but Biden’s FBI told officers to release him.
On March 12, 2025, he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After Abrego Garcia was deported back to this home country of El Salvador with other alleged gang members, immigration advocates and lawyers jumped on his case.
A judged ordered he could not be deported to El Salvador. At the time, ICE said that his deportation was a result of an “administrative error.”
He has since been moved from the high-security mega-prison Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) to a lower-security prison in Santa Ana. Both a federal judge and the Supreme Court have ruled that the Trump Administration must “facilitate” his return.
