INTERVIEW: Rep. Andy Harris on the Democrats' "ironic" fixation on an El Salvadoran illegal immigrant
THE LOWDOWN:
Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.) blasted Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland for traveling to El Salvador to demand the return of a recently-deported illegal immigrant to the U.S.
Harris criticized Van Hollen for prioritizing an El Salvadoran illegal immigrant over the family of a recently-slain Maryland woman at the hands of a different El Salvadoran illegal immigrant.
While some Republicans in Congress, including Reps. Jason Smith (R., Mo.) and Riley Moore (R., W.Va.) have also gone to El Salvador in recent days, Harris has no plans to visit himself, saying that “the president is handling this situation.”
Despite Harris’s fierce ideological disagreements with Van Hollen, he told the Reporter that he is in opposition to a trade that would see Garcia return to Maryland in exchange for Van Hollen remaining in El Salvador.
Both Democrats and Republicans have focused on immigration in very different ways this week, and the contrast has been clearest with Maryland. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.).
The Maryland Democrat flew to El Salvador to press for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who was deported to the South American nation by the Trump administration.
Van Hollen’s trip came while amid the senator’s failure to contact the family of his constituent who was murdered by another illegal immigrant from El Salvador, according to Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.).
Harris, the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, represents Eastern Maryland. One of his constituents, Rachel Morin, was brutally raped and murdered by an MS-13 gang member illegally in the U.S. from El Salvador. That gang member, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, was found guilty of all charges in the case this week.
In an interview with the Washington Reporter, which Harris conducted from Maryland, “the state where I am a citizen,” and not El Salvador, the lawmaker called it “interesting and ironic that [Van Hollen] is insisting on talking to this gentleman in El Salvador who is a citizen of El Salvador, but is not interested in talking to Rachel Morin's family.”
In the case of Garcia, Harris criticized the coverage, which has repeatedly called Garcia a “Maryland man,” attempting to confer upon him the citizenship that he lacks. That sleight of hand, Harris said, is “just completely disconnected from the facts.”
“I'm not surprised, because the liberal media is soft on illegal immigrants,” he said. “They're soft on illegal immigrant crime, and this a perfect example of it. Calling him a Maryland man just because he happens to have illegally entered the country and ended up in Maryland does not make him a Maryland man.”
“He is an El Salvador citizen, and he's back. He's been repatriated to his homeland,” Harris said.
While some Republicans in Congress, including Reps. Jason Smith (R., Mo.) and Riley Moore (R., W.Va.) have also gone to El Salvador in recent days, Harris has no plans to visit himself, saying that “the president is handling this situation.”
“We have plenty of problems here, stateside, and the president is well in charge of the situation with El Salvador…He does not need my help on that,” Harris said. Harris added that he doesn’t see a need for further legislation on immigration, because “we have all the laws we need.”
“I think the president is proving that…he has all the laws he needs to close our borders, which he proved because of the 99 percent decline in illegal border crossing since he's been president, and to begin the deportations,” Harris continued.
Harris does, however, fully back the White House’s moves to crack down on both illegal immigration and on sanctuary cities.
“This president has zero tolerance for illegal immigrants, especially ones who are gang members or criminals, and the president made that clear during his campaign, and he's delivering on his promise to the American people,” Harris said. The Maryland Republican’s state is also home to several sanctuary jurisdictions — and Harris supports moves by the administration to punish those areas, like Prince George’s County.
“I think the president has to begin to withhold federal funding from these jurisdictions. Prince George’s County in Maryland just recently released a murderer who had a detainer from ICE, and released him into the community. But fortunately, ICE tracked him down anyway. But this kind of endangerment of American citizens by sanctuary cities shouldn't be tolerated.”
Unsurprisingly, Harris is not supportive of how Democrats in Maryland have uniformly failed to reach out to him in the wake of the Morin murder. No Democrat in the federal delegation or in the governor’s mansion — currently occupied by Gov. Wes Moore (D., Md.), a possible presidential candidate for Democrats — has ever spoken with him about Morin, he said.
“My local sheriff's office really led the charge to bring him to justice and to adjudicate the crime,” Harris said. “But no, I haven't been been contacted by any of my Democratic colleagues in the Maryland delegation nor in the governor's office.”
Despite Harris’s fierce ideological disagreements with Van Hollen, he told the Reporter that he is in opposition to a trade that would see Garcia return to Maryland in exchange for Van Hollen remaining in El Salvador.
“Chris Van Hollen is a Maryland citizen,” he said. “He is a Maryland man. He belongs in Maryland. Keep the real Maryland man here in Maryland and the El Salvador citizen back in El Salvador.”
Below is a transcript of our interview with Rep. Andy Harris, lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Congressman Harris, I assume you're in Maryland and not El Salvador, right now?
Rep. Andy Harris:
That is correct. I am in the state where I am a citizen.
Washington Reporter:
You are a Maryland man, and I'm curious with what do you think about the media's framing of this entire saga here of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a “Maryland man”?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Well, it's just completely disconnected from the facts. I'm not surprised, because the liberal media is soft on illegal immigrants. They're soft on illegal immigrant crime, and this a perfect example of it. Calling him a Maryland man just because he happens to have illegally entered the country and ended up in Maryland does not make him a Maryland man. He is an El Salvador citizen, and he's back. He's been repatriated to his homeland.
Washington Reporter:
What do you think a Maryland man is defined as? I'm sitting here in my Rhoback shirt with crabs and football on it. I have a jar of Old Bay sitting next to me. What is a Maryland man to you?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Well, I don't know, but it certainly implies citizenship. It implies belonging here, and neither of those two apply in this case. There's only one place where this gentleman is a citizen, and that is in El Salvador.
Washington Reporter:
What do you make of the White House weighing in so strongly this week about this case? Karoline Leavitt was talking about this a lot. And what do you think of the shift between the Biden administration and the Trump administration in terms of immigration more broadly; how have you seen that play out from a congressional standpoint?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Well, pretty clearly this president has zero tolerance for illegal immigrants, especially ones who are gang members or criminals, and the president made that clear during his campaign, and he's delivering on his promise to the American people, and that's why when the American people see what's going on in this case, I think they're thankful that this man is back where he belongs in El Salvador.
Washington Reporter:
Can you give us your perspective on the legal grounds that the Trump administration has been making in terms of removing this person who was not a citizen back to his home in El Salvador?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Obviously this gentleman is here illegally. The charge of of him being a gang member, an MS-13 gang member, has been adjudicated by two immigration courts, an immigration court and then an appeals immigration court, both of which found that there was evidence that he was a gang member, and in neither case was it disputed by his representatives in the court. So the bottom line is that he has been adjudicated to being likely be a gang member of MS-13. MS-13 is appropriately now designated as a foreign terrorist organization, and therefore he does not have the right to any kind of shelter in the United States. He should be, and was, returned back to his homeland.
Washington Reporter:
Both you and the White House have been very focused on the contrast between the attention paid to Garcia and the relative silence by almost every Democrat in America to a crime that happened very close to your home: the murder of Rachel Morin by an MS-13 gang member. I looked on Chris Van Hollen’s Twitter and saw that he has never even mentioned Rachel Morin's name. He has done some press releases, so it’s not that he's never said her name, but what do you make of the juxtaposition that you and the White House and others have been really leaning into?
Rep. Andy Harris:
I just find it interesting and ironic that he is insisting on talking to this gentleman in El Salvador who is a citizen of El Salvador but is not interested in talking to Rachel Morin's family. She is actually a citizen of Maryland. She was a United States citizen who was greatly wronged by an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. I just find it ironic that he's making all these efforts, spending taxpayer dollars to fly to El Salvador, to talk to this person in El Salvador, but he has not spoken to the Morin family who are Maryland residents.
Washington Reporter:
Are you saying that Van Hollen has never spoken to Rachel Morin’s family?
Rep. Andy Harris:
No. I mean after the verdict from this week. And even if he didn't speak to them, he didn't even address it on social media. Again, a family in Maryland was greatly wrong by an illegal immigrant, and no comment on that from the senator on the adjudication of that case.
Washington Reporter:
Looking at some of the other Democrats in Maryland, you've been hammering Governor Wes Moore, Chris Van Hollen, and others. The murder of Rachel Morin happened in your district. Have you ever spoken to the Democrats who represent Maryland about this case? Have they ever reached out to you to figure out any ways to address this?
Rep. Andy Harris:
No. My local sheriff's office really led the charge to bring him to justice and to adjudicate the crime. But no, I haven't been been contacted by any of my Democratic colleagues in the Maryland delegation nor in the governor's office.
Washington Reporter:
From a congressional standpoint, we saw the Homeland Security Committee had Rachel Morin’s mom in for quite a heart rending testimony. Do you think that from a congressional standpoint, there are laws that you want to have Trump sign to ensure that crimes like this don't happen?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Well, I think we have all the laws we need. I think the president is proving that. Congress actually passed some new laws, but the president apparently has all the laws he needs to make sure that these people have their day in court, and that those illegal immigrants who are gang members, in the case of Tren de Aragua or MS-13, of gangs that have been labeled as foreign terrorist organizations, are punish. So he has all the laws he needs to close our borders, which he proved because of the 99 percent decline in illegal border crossing since he's been president, and to begin the deportations.
Washington Reporter:
What do you make of the Trump administration's work to crack down on sanctuary cities? There are several of those several sanctuary counties in Maryland.
Rep. Andy Harris:
I think the president has to begin to withhold federal funding from these jurisdictions. Prince George’s County in Maryland just recently released a murderer who had a detainer from ICE, and released him into the community. But fortunately, ICE tracked him down anyway. But this kind of endangerment of American citizens by sanctuary cities shouldn't be tolerated.
Washington Reporter:
El Salvador looks like it has very nice beachfront property. You represent Ocean City. Some of your Republican colleagues have also gone to El Salvador for very different reasons than Van Hollen did. Do you have any interest in joining them during this work period? Or are you sticking closer to home?
Rep. Andy Harris:
The president is handling this situation. We have plenty of problems here, stateside, and the president is well in charge of the situation with El Salvador and in beginning the deportation, sending MS-13 gang members back home where they belong. He does not need my help on that.
Washington Reporter:
Can you talk about how the verdict in the Rachel Morin murder trial played out in your community?
Rep. Andy Harris:
For a crime this heinous, you wish that capital punishment was still a punishment possibility. I hope there's a way they can make sure that this man will never ever threaten anyone, not only in the 1st Congressional District ever again, but anyone in the United States.
Washington Reporter:
Is there any possibility for laws to allow for capital punishment for cases like this in Maryland?
Rep. Andy Harris:
No. Maryland has done away with capital punishment unfortunately, even in heinous cases like this. And my fear is that because of the pardon ability of governors and of presidents, that even even his consecutive life sentences without parole is something that is not necessarily a permanent adjudication.
Washington Reporter:
Finally, we’ve seen that there have been some people who have been floating a trade of Kilmar Abrego Garcia coming back to Maryland and El Salvador keeping Chris Van Hollen. Where do you weigh in on that?
Rep. Andy Harris:
Chris Van Hollen is a Maryland citizen. He is a Maryland man. He belongs in Maryland. Keep the real Maryland man here in Maryland and the El Salvador citizen back in El Salvador.
Washington Reporter:
Congressman Harris, from one Maryland man to another, thanks for your time today.
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