Sen. Chris Van Hollen (shown), D-Md., on Thursday told Troy Edgar, the nominee for ambassador to El Salvador, “Unfortunately, you’ve been part of an administration that’s taking away Americans’ rights to freedom here at home, due process rights as well as First Amendment rights.” File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Democratic senators on the Foreign Relations Committee have sharply criticized Troy Edgar, the nominee for ambassador to El Salvador, over his actions as Department of Homeland Security deputy secretary under President Donald Trump.
At Edgar’s nomination hearing Thursday, Democrats questioned his role in violent DHS activity, including the two fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Prettii by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents and repeated obstacles to members of Congress to visits ICE facilities.
“Unfortunately, you’ve been part of an administration that’s taking away Americans’ rights to freedom here at home, due process rights as well as First Amendment rights, and it is hard to trust you there that you’ll stand up for important American principles as our American ambassador to El Salvador, if confirmed,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
Edgar’s nomination was part of a major shift in the DHS leadership structure, as Trump announced on Truth Social Thursday afternoon that he was firing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem just hours after the nomination hearing. Trump said he would replace Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., pending confirmation.
Van Hollen pressed Edgar to disagree with Noem’s statements that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were involved in domestic terrorism. Before congressional committees this week, Noem refused to retract those comments.
Van Hollen said he found it “absolutely astounding” that Edgar also refused to say that Good and Pretti were not domestic terrorists.
The top Democrat on the panel, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., questioned Edgar on last year’s deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants without criminal convictions to El Salvador’s maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center.
Multiple human rights organizations have documented the megaprisons’ poor conditions and violations of human rights, including torture.
“It sends a message to the rest of the world what we stand for when we forcibly deport hundreds of people, many with no criminal record, to a country that has a demonstrated human rights record that is abysmal.” Coons said.
“I’m gravely concerned by the significant human rights in El Salvador and frankly by your answer that what matters is meeting the president’s campaign promises and it’s popular, so who cares about the consequences for the people who were sent there?”
Edgar responded that he did not have concerns over human rights violations by the government of El Salvador under President Nayib Bukele in relation to the more than 200 people sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
Democrats and Republicans fundamentally disagreed over human rights violations in El Salvador under Bukele, who authorized widespread abuse, including mass arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, and ill-treatment of detainees and due process violations, according to the Human Rights Watch.
Some Republicans commended the decline of gang violence under Bukele.
“I think about President Bukele’s leadership that’s allowed El Salvador to dramatically reduce violent crime in that country, including the establishment of a maximum security facility that detains very high-risk criminal offenders,” said Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.
Hagerty said Edgar will make an excellent ambassador to El Salvador.
“Our two governments have found a way to coordinate on the return of Salvadorian nationals that are involved in criminal activity, and we’ve done that in a way that’s reinforced public safety right here in the United States,” Hagerty said.
The committee also questioned Frank Garcia, assistant secretary of State for African affairs nominee; Lee Lipton, ambassador to the Philippines nominee; Asel Roberts, ambassador to Slovenia nominee; and Jared Novelly, ambassador to New Zealand nominee.
Since Edgar had captured most of the committee’s attention, Coons conducted a second round of questions at the end of the hearing for the remaining nominees.
Senate Foreign Relations Democrats criticized the number of vacant ambassadorial posts under the Trump administration and Trump’s nominees for lacking sufficient diplomatic experience.
The Senate was expected to vote to confirm ambassador nominees, including Edgar, in the coming months.
