Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Wednesday on CNN’s “News Central” that he is advancing legislation that would force the Trump administration to produce a human rights report on El Salvador that would result in “serious consequences” if violations were found.
Kaine said, “We just want the administration to follow the law and so there is a privileged motion, which means even a single senator can file it and you’ll be guaranteed a vote that will require the administration within 30 days to produce a human rights report on El Salvador, including the conditions of the prison to which American residents are being sent and the efforts that the Trump administration are taking, if any, to comply with the unanimous Supreme Court order in the Garcia case.”
He continued, “This is something that the State Department will have to produce within 30 days, or security assistance, all security assistance to El Salvador will be cut off. We’re expecting the vote later this week. It’s a simple majority.”
Kaine added, “If the administration doesn’t reproduce the human rights report, all security assistance to El Salvador is cut off, and that probably includes the very funding the president is using to pay El Salvador for this. So this imposes a consequence on El Salvador. If the report is produced, the Senate can then take up in a privileged vote whether or not to terminate security assistance to El Salvador. So this is about the Trump administration, but it’s also letting El Salvador know if you collude with the president in violating Americans’ constitutional rights, don’t think we’re going to forget it, in fact, there will be a serious consequence to it.”
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