The Senate on Thursday rejected a resolution written by Democrats that would have required that the Trump administration tell Congress what steps it has taken to comply with court orders involving U.S. deportees imprisoned in El Salvador and to report on the country’s human rights record.
The measure failed on a party-line vote of 45-50. Republicans were unanimously opposed.
Supporters said the resolution was intended to determine if U.S. security assistance had gone to support the detention of U.S. residents in a country that might be violating human rights. It would have amounted to a strong rebuke of President Trump and a challenge to his aggressive deportation drive, which Democrats see as an unlawful overreach.
Though the measure had little chance of success in the Republican-controlled Senate, the Democratic minority forced a vote anyway, their latest maneuver to resist the president’s policies and make Republicans cast votes on highly charged political issues. Democrats used the same tactic to force votes on a number of the Mr. Trump’s previously announced tariffs.
There has been growing consternation among Democrats in Washington over the deal Mr. Trump struck to pay the government of El Salvador millions of dollars to imprison a group of Venezuelan and Salvadoran migrants the administration claims are transnational criminal gangs.
Frustrations erupted when Mr. Trump and top officials in his administration said they would not repatriate Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had been living in the United States and was mistakenly deported to his home country even though a court had forbade returning him there.
A group of Democratic senators banded together to push for a legislative response after the administration defied a Supreme Court and lower court rulings instructing the U.S. government to facilitate Mr. Abrego Garcia’s return and Mr. Trump mused repeatedly on television about sending U.S. citizens who commit violent crimes to prisons in El Salvador.
Thursday’s resolution was introduced by Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia and cosponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Alex Padilla of California. It also had the backing of Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader.
“The courts have spoken, and now the Senate needs to ensure that the Trump administration is listening. Senate Democrats will not rest until we have answers,” Mr. Schumer said in a statement before the vote.
Republicans called the measure a misguided defense of criminal migrants.
“Senate Democrats are voting once again to defend illegal immigrant criminals — they seem to like to do that. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true,” Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said ahead of the vote.
The Foreign Assistance Act allows Congress to request a human rights report from the State Department on any nation that is receiving U.S. assistance to determine whether American funding may be going to a country that is violating human rights.
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