According to a report by Newsweek, Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1995. His mother ran a business selling flat bread which was fried on a flat iron griddle. Apparently, the business did well, because it attracted the attention of a gang known as Barrio 18. They went to the Mom and demanded that either she pay them protection money, or let them make her older son Cesar a member. Kilmar's mother paid the gang, but knew they wouldn't leave Cesar alone, so she sent him to the United States to get away from them. As far as anyone knows he is still here.
The gang, however wasn't done with Abrego-Garcia's family. They shifted their focus to Kilmar. When the threats and attempts at intimidation became too great, the family also sent him north--to the land of the free. Sometime around 2011, or 2012 he arrived and, allegedly, crossed the border illegally. At this moment, it is the only law Kilmar Abrego-Garcia has ever been accused of breaking.
Abrego-Garcia met and moved in with a woman named Jennifer Vasquez-Sura. She had two kids by a previous relationship and a third by Abrego-Garcia. They were later married. All three children have special needs. When things began to go sideways in 2019, they were all living in Maryland.
He and a couple of other guys were popped by local police outside of a Home Depot where they were looking for day labor work. Abrego-Garcia was grilled by the Beltsville, MD cops about any gang ties, which he denied time and time again. (Which he still does.) The police didn't believe him, so they handed him over to Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents and into detention he went.
ICE ran him in front of a judge and accused Abrego-Garcia of being a member of the gang, MS-13. They didn't have any evidence of it themselves, but they cited the Beltsville PD evidence. That evidence was based on the word of a paid confidential informant and--you've gotta love it--the fact that when Abrego-Garcia was picked up he was wearing a hoodie and a Chicago Bulls hat.
During the hearing Abrego-Garcia made a compelling case not to be sent back to El Salvador because the Barrio 18 wise guys were still out to get him. The judge, perhaps because of the hat and hoodie thing, decided, Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was indeed a member of MS-13 and ruled he could be deported. But, and this is a big but, he also ruled the defendant could not, under any circumstances be deported to El Salvador. In other words the U.S. government could ship him off to anywhere in the world, except El Salvador.
For reasons known only to ICE and the judge Abrego-Garcia was then released and has been living in Maryland with his wife, kid, and step kids ever since. He hasn't broken any laws and in fact the Newsweek report says he periodically checked in with ICE to let them know where he was and what he was doing.
Well, right now what Kilmar Abrego-Garcia is doing is sweating it out in a massive prison known as CECOT which is located smack dab in the middle of the one place the U.S. government was forbidden to send him to, El Salvador. The current administration says he is there due to a clerical error. They also maintain that since he is now in a foreign jurisdiction they and the all powerful President who ordered this and hundreds of other, let's say, arrests, sans any hint of due process can't get him back.
Yes, it would seem that when it suits him and others, like Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's executive power is limited.
A federal judge and appeals court disagree. Both ruled that since the administration not only fucked up, but admitted they did, they must get Abrego-Garcia back. They even set a deadline of midnight last night. The feds went to the Supreme Court yesterday asking for a delay. Chief Justice John Roberts granted it, but ordered both sides to present arguments by 5pm today. The U.S. powers that be, through this entire chaotic merry-go-round ride have maintained Abrego-Garcia is a dangerous criminal gang member. The attitude appears to be, yeah, we screwed up, but the guy looks dirty, so let him rot.
As tragic as Abrego-Garcia's situation is it is just a small part of what is unfolding on the streets of the United States. The President of this country has ordered people to be arrested, in effect convicted, and sentenced to indefinite incarcerated in a foreign land without any charges being filed, any trial taking place, or any legal representation offered, or allowed. When Augusto Pinochet was running Chile, they used to call this sort of thing, "disappearing."
For those wondering there are reports the President's people are negotiating with other countries to provide prison space. Other reports say Donald Trump has, on occasion, casually joked about someday summarily deporting American citizens to exotic locales such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East without the fuss of due process--you know, one minute you're here and the next you're, "disappeared."
In 1946, a year after getting out of a Nazi concentration camp, German Lutheran cleric, Martin Niemoller wrote a sermon which included these words:
First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
4-8-25
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