Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen just got politically flattened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a fiery State Department budget hearing on Tuesday — and it’s hard to see how Van Hollen recovers from the humiliation.
The topic? Rubio’s push to deport dangerous criminal aliens, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a convicted wife beater and alleged MS-13 gang member who was living illegally in Maryland. Rubio didn’t just defend the decision. He torched Van Hollen’s bizarre efforts to get Garcia back into the United States.
“We deported gang members — including the one you had a margarita with — and that guy is a human trafficker and that guy is a gang banger,” Rubio told Van Hollen straight to his face.
Boom.
It all stems from Van Hollen’s cringeworthy trip to El Salvador last month, where he met with Garcia in person and lobbied for his return to the U.S. This was no quiet diplomatic meeting — Van Hollen made a full-blown political stunt out of it, posting updates online and claiming that Garcia had been “illegally abducted.”
Illegal? The guy had his day in immigration court, and on appeal, and both rulings upheld his deportation. In what world is that “abduction”?
But the real punchline came courtesy of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who posted a photo of Van Hollen sipping margaritas with Garcia, sarcastically captioned: “Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture’, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!”
Van Hollen’s defense? A whiny conspiracy theory that the Salvadoran government planted the drinks on the table to embarrass him.
“About Margaritagate,” Van Hollen said with a straight face, “when I first sat down…we had glasses of water. One of the government people came over and deposited two other glasses on the table…they look like margaritas.”
Yes, Senator. The President of El Salvador conspired to ruin your photo op with a convicted gang member by sneaking cocktails onto your table. Sounds totally legit.
Then, in one final desperate jab, Van Hollen told Rubio: “I regret voting for you for Secretary of State.”
Rubio didn’t miss a beat: “Your regret for voting for me confirms I’m doing a good job.”
Mic. Dropped.
In one afternoon, Rubio not only exposed Van Hollen’s political stunt for what it was — a shameful effort to smuggle a gangbanger back into the U.S. — he also reminded America why strong borders and law enforcement matter.
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