NJ congresswoman ignites firestorm over Trump deportation ‘dictator’ statement

🔴 Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman assails the Trump administration over deportation controversy

🔴 Sen. Booker planning trip to El Salvador

🔴 New Jersey residents react

TRENTON — A Democratic congresswoman from New Jersey says President Trump is "in effect, a dictator" in response to the administration deporting a Maryland man to a foreign prison despite a court order and a Supreme Court decision to the contrary.

“By refusing to abide by a direct order from the Supreme Court, the administration has shown it will not respect our Constitution. In doing so, Trump has become, in effect, a dictator," U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J. 12th District, said Wednesday.

“There is no other way to interpret the administration’s deliberate choice to willfully ignore a Supreme Court order. They are lying about it brazenly, they are joking about it publicly, they are refusing it plainly. This is a constitutional crisis in every sense of the phrase.

“Our largest and most respected media institutions are failing to meet this moment. Passivity and vagueness fail to convey to the public the seriousness of what is happening. Citizens of a democracy need to know the vile truth of his actions. Ordinary people must speak out and protest, elected officials — myself included — will continue to ring the alarm as loud as we can, and use every lever of power we have at our disposal to stop it.”

Coleman has represented her Central Jersey district in Congress since 2015 and serves on the Appropriations Committee. Before that, she spent seven years representing Mercer County in the Assembly.

New Jersey reaction to congresswoman

The lawmaker's bold statement spurred reaction from New Jersey residents on both sides of the question.

"Finally someone is telling it 100% like it is!" one New Jersey 101.5 reader said on Facebook.

"We can only wish he was a dictator!" another said. "Then we could fix this country once and for all."

"Sorta like Murphy was during the Covid pandemic, got ya," a follower on New Jersey 101.5's Instagram account said, prompting a response.

"Trying to contain a deadly illness cannot possibly be seen as equivalent to refusing to provide due process, extorting universities to stop providing equal rights to their students, and refusing to follow a judge’s order.

More reaction 📢

📢 "They forgot about the Biden administration going after their political opponents, going after people attending Sunday mass or about people that oppose abortion. Oh I forgot it’s a Democrat doing it so they get a pass."

📢 "I find the Democrats to be more of a dictator. Trump is no dictator. He’s a businessman who cares about this country just like all the other businessmen that are helping him put this country back on its feet."

📢 "This is the 5th Constitutional Crisis today. The problem with calling virtually everything he does a crisis to appease your base is when something actually does go down then the rest of us don't pay attention. He can become like a dictator because you've cried wolf so many times over minor things that we don't believe you anymore."

📢 "I agree! Article I, Section 8, Clause 18: SCOTUS extended constitutional protections to all aliens within 🇺🇸 including those who entered unlawfully, even illegally, may be expelled only after proceedings conforming to traditional standards of fairness encompassed in due process of law

📢 "The person in question is legally allowed to be in this country. He was rounded up illegally and sent to a prison in El Salvador. The Supreme Court has told the current administration that he needed to be returned and they are deliberately ignoring that order. What if it was your family member? The Germans felt the same way back in 1930. It wasn't them being rounded up so who cared."

Booker plans El Salvador trip

The Trump administration and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said this week that they have no basis to send him back, even as even as the U.S. Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return. Trump officials have said that Abrego Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang, but his attorneys note the government has provided no evidence of that.

Democrats have seized on the case to highlight what they say is President Donald Trump’s disrespect for the courts and overcome their position in the minority in both the House and Senate.

Democratic U.S. senators, including Maryland's Chris Van Hollen, who arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, are calling for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent there by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is also considering visiting the country.

Feds claim gang ties

Trump officials slammed the Democratic senator’s trip and renewed their claims that he was a gang member.

Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, said on Fox News that he is “disgusted that any congressional representative is going to run to El Salvador.”

“We got rid of a dangerous person, an El Salvadoran national was returned to the country of El Salvador, so he is home,” Homan said.

The fight over Abrego Garcia has also played out in contentious court filings, with repeated refusals from the government to tell a judge what it plans to do, if anything, to repatriate him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.