Democrats’ latest attempt to meddle in Trump’s deportation policies crashed and burned in the Senate. On May 1, 2025, a resolution led by Senators Tim Kaine, Chuck Schumer, Chris Van Hollen, and Alex Padilla was shot down 45-50, split neatly along party lines. It’s almost like the GOP has a spine now.
According to the Washington Examiner, the resolution, filed under the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, demanded a human rights report on El Salvador’s treatment of deportees, including one Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
It was a transparent jab at Trump’s aggressive deportation of alleged gang members to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. Democrats cried “due process” while conveniently ignoring border security. Senators Kaine, Schumer, Van Hollen, and Padilla pushed this privileged motion in early May, hoping to force the State Department’s hand. They claimed it was about Americans or U.S. residents “detained or imprisoned” in El Salvador. Funny how their concern for “Americans” only surfaces when it suits their narrative.
Using a Senate rule workaround, Democrats bypassed Republican control to force this vote. Since the GOP took the Senate in January 2025, these privileged resolutions have been their go-to for stirring the pot. Actions have consequences, and voters seem to prefer results over theatrics.
The resolution didn’t name Kilmar Abrego Garcia outright, but he was the poster child. A Salvadoran national who lived in Maryland, Garcia was deported as an alleged MS-13 member, a claim his attorneys dispute. The White House says it can’t bring him back, and frankly, why should they?
Senator Chris Van Hollen even made a pilgrimage to El Salvador in April 2025 to meet Garcia. Four House Democrats tagged along, wailing about his lack of due process. They missed the memo that illegal immigration isn’t a free pass to stay.
Trump’s team has leaned on wartime authority to deport hundreds to El Salvador without judicial review. A CBS News investigation revealed many at the Terrorism Confinement Center haven’t been charged or convicted. Sounds like El Salvador’s problem, not ours.
Democrats framed this as a human rights crisis, pointing fingers at Trump for “sidestepping legal oversight.” Yet they’re silent when it comes to the chaos that unchecked immigration brings to American communities. Selective outrage is their brand.
“El Salvador… has a track record of imprisoning innocent individuals,” Kaine declared on the Senate floor. Innocent? Tell that to the communities terrorized by gangs like MS-13, which Trump is finally tackling head-on.
Kaine wasn’t done: “We should all want to know whether Americans detained in El Salvador have an opportunity to demonstrate that they are wrongfully imprisoned.” Nice try, Senator, but deporting criminals isn’t the same as jailing innocents. The American people want borders, not sob stories.
The resolution also questioned El Salvador’s cooperation with a Supreme Court ruling tied to Garcia’s return. It’s a stretch to paint El Salvador as the bad guy when they’re locking up deportees we sent them. Maybe Democrats should focus on fixing our immigration laws instead. Garcia’s case isn’t as clean as Democrats pretend. Court filings show allegations of domestic abuse from his wife. Guess that didn’t make it into their heartfelt press releases.
Republicans weren’t buying the Democrats’ stunt, and the 45-50 vote proved it. They’ve called out this obsession with deportee rights as a disconnect from voters’ real concerns. Americans want secure borders, not endless debates over foreign jails. Kaine’s had some luck before, like when he rallied four Republicans in April 2025 to nix Trump’s emergency tariff authority. But this time, the GOP held firm, reminding everyone who was in charge.
Unity looks good on them. In the end, the Democrats’ resolution was less about human rights and more about scoring points against Trump. Their failure shows the Senate isn’t falling for the woke playbook anymore. Deportations will continue, and that’s a promise voters expect to be kept.
