Two House Democrats, Reps. Robert Garcia and Maxwell Frost, are working to organize an official congressional delegation to a prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration is sending deportees. Dozens of House Democrats have shown interest in joining the trip as a way to oppose the administration’s deportation policies. However, approval from Republican Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is required to make the trip official and give members oversight powers.

The lawmakers aim to visit Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), where Kilmar Abrego Garcia is being held. Although some reports claim the Supreme Court ordered his return to the U.S., the actual ruling only required the administration to attempt facilitating it. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen linked to MS-13, is reportedly being detained under Bukele’s anti-gang crackdown.

Garcia and Frost argue that a congressional visit would allow for a welfare check on Abrego Garcia and others detained at CECOT. They have expressed readiness to travel immediately and are open to including Republicans on the trip. Senator Chris Van Hollen also plans to travel to El Salvador, hoping to meet with Abrego Garcia and assess his condition.

Meanwhile, former President Trump praised El Salvador’s President Bukele for his crackdown on violent crime, citing the construction of high-security prisons like CECOT. In an interview with Fox News, Trump suggested his administration may use similar prisons to detain violent American criminals, saying, “We are looking into it, and we want to do it.”