Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) met with several illegal immigrants connected to the gangs MS-13 and 18th Street, the Department of Homeland Security announced.
While touring the Farmville Detention Center in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on August 8, Beyer requested to meet with “an 18th Street gang member, drug trafficker, and repeat offender of driving under the influence,” as well as an MS-13 gang member, DHS said. Following his visit, the congressman claimed that “as many as three-quarters” of those at the facility “only have a civil reason for being there.”
DHS asserted that 66% of the detainees at the facility have been convicted or charged with crimes in the United States, a number that does not include those with charges in their country of origin.
“Congressman Beyer personally requested to meet with an 18th Street gang member, drug trafficker, and repeat DUI offender who are in our country illegally,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “He continues to do the bidding of dangerous criminal illegal aliens that endanger his own constituents. When will Congressman Beyer meet with the American victims of these illegal aliens’ violent crimes?”
Several Democrats have met with migrant gang members. Earlier this year, four Democrats traveled to El Salvador to show their support for deported MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Reps. Robert Garcia (CA), Yassamin Ansari (AZ), Maxwell Frost (FL), and Maxine Dexter (OR) claimed Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a “direct violation of due process protected by the Constitution,” a press release said at the time. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) visited Abrego Garcia earlier that month.
