WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday stopped a measure that sought to obtain more information on the human rights practices at the prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration has deported migrants who are alleged gang members.

The chamber, in a 45-50 vote along party lines, did not agree to a motion to discharge from the Foreign Relations Committee a resolution sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Kaine, in a floor speech prior to the vote, said the resolution was necessary because President Donald Trump has entered into an agreement “still shrouded in some secrecy” with El Salvador for detainment at its prison.

“The Congress that is in charge of appropriating taxpayer dollars should want to know the circumstances of this imprisonment and whether U.S. law is being followed,” Kaine said.

The resolution would require the State Department to report to Congress on the general practices of human rights in El Salvador, at a time when the United States has deported migrants to the country for incarceration at a terrorist detainment facility with documented abuses.

The resolution also would require the State Department to detail, in a report to Congress, steps the administration is taking to ensure compliance with court orders applicable to U.S. citizens or residents wrongfully deported to El Salvador, and whether U.S. security assistance has been used to support the illegal detention of U.S. residents.

Under the resolution, if the State Department didn’t produce the report in 30 days, security assistance to El Salvador would have been prohibited by federal law, according to a statement from Kaine’s office.

The legislation is privileged under the Foreign Assistance Act, meaning the Senate is forced to vote on it, the statement says.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a floor speech prior to the vote he would vote against the measure, calling it a “political stunt.”

“It’s not about transparency,” Barrasso said. “It’s not about human rights. It’s about bringing a verified member of MS-13 — a terrorist group, criminals — bringing that member back into the United States. So today Senate Democrats are voting once again to defend illegal criminals. They seem to like to do that. It’s hard to believe but it’s true.”

The Trump administration has deported migrants to the El Salvador prison under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and other authorities on the basis that these individuals are deemed to be members of international gangs, such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua. The Trump administration has designated these groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Among the individuals deported to the El Salvador prison is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant who had been living in Maryland before the Trump administration sent him to El Salvador despite a court order not to do so. The U.S. government has said the deportation was an administrative error.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, made the deported man’s story a central component of his floor speech Thursday on why the resolution was necessary.

“He has totally been unable to contact anybody in the outside world,” Van Hollen said. “Before I met with him and since, he’s not only been in a total news blackout, but nobody can call him, not his lawyers, not his wife, not his mother, not this brother.

“That is a violation of international law, and that is the hallmark of this El Salvadorian gulag is people go into CECOT or these other prisons and you never hear from them again,” Van Hollen said

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