The Democrats are using the Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia like another Cory Booker filibuster or a “Fight the Oligarchy” rally to try to try to rally their coalition and seem like they’re fighting against Trump.
Yea, they are losing their minds. Were they ever really "rationalist centrists," though? They just called themselves that. And now, their hyperventilation just shows that they never were. Sullivan canceling his trip is outright comical. So, an illegal alien gang member gets sent home... and Sullivan is worried that legal citizens might not get back into the country after traveling abroad? That seems like a huge leap. It's akin to, "Concentration camps are next! Because Hitler! And fascism!"
I’m a naturalized citizen of the US, and I will be leaving the country for vacation without a second thought! Seriously, these people need some kind of tranquilizer; they’ve become addicted to drama.
I think there is some variety in that bunch Yuri listed and I would suggest Nate Silver is more rationalist/pragmatic who strives to be objective and compensate for TDS. I was so grateful to Sam Harris for his early atheist work that I’ll overlook his current “framework” but I won’t read him any more (much less take him seriously). This comment is prior to going to Yuri’s link above to which I look forward! Thank you Yuri…
There was very little in the way of lawful behavior during the importation of millions - we don't know who these people are, and the news has been notably not good on the behavior of more than just a few. Now, suddenly, we are fainting on the altar of due process to get them back out again. The state of the law or its application was never the issue, it is about the importation of millions who the Democrats are hoping will forever vote blue in return for the complete lawlessness that got them here.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Abrego-Garcia in 2019 as he was looking for day labor outside a Home Depot in Maryland. A police informant told police Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 member. Immigration judges denied Abrego Garcia bond, both initially and on appeal, citing the informant’s accusation. In the order denying bond, the judge said the determination of Abrego Garcia’s gang membership "appears to be trustworthy and is supported" by evidence from the Gang Field Interview Sheet. This ruling was upheld on appeal. The order barred him from being deported to El Salvador however, due to concerns about gang reprisals against MS-13 members in that nation.
At that time, MS-13 had been designated as a criminal enterprise, but not as a terrorist organization. The Biden administration dropped efforts to deport Abrego-Garcia (along with millions of other cases).
In 2025 the 2nd Trump Administration reviewed all files of illegal immigrants with MS-13 issues and began finding and deporting them. In the case of Abrego-Garcia, sufficient evidence from the 2019 files exists to process his deportation; similar to many others. This does not require formal charges, or trials or convictions. These are administrative processes with a much lower standard of evidence. The widely noted "error" consists of his deportation to El Salvador, rather than another nation.
I really want to understand this situation better as it’s the main issue that has given me pause about my vote for Trump. Can you offer some sources for this information so that I can verify with my own eyes? I’d be grateful for that!
Consider also that Bukele knows who this guy is and keeps him in prison rather than releasing him into his home country. Everyone pretends that once a spark of humanity crosses our borders that all past sins are removed. Not true as that guy found out when he went "home".
I really have no idea what the motivation is for him. Neither do you. He can be free in his homeland. Or maybe, just maybe, he is a member of MS-13. Sucks to hang out with criminals.
Abrego Garcia’s mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, when he w, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.
You forgot to mention the 2 domestic violence charges filed in 2021 by his wife. We don't have enough illegal immigrant wife beaters in this country. I hope he lives next door to you if he is ever allowed back.
There's no way to verify if all that you say is true and it IS NOT "ONLY BEING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN", it is a felony crime as we are a sovereign nation that must know who is here and who isn't. When WE had tyrants running around and threatening, torturing, etc. us citizens, WE WENT TO WAR to free ourselves of that tyranny (or as some called it at the time, a "half-crown" because King George was so evil and crazy, he really didn't have a full crown as a king). MANY PEOPLE DIED and have SINCE died to keep our country FREE. GOOD GOD, why don't you just move to a commie/socialist "global" country. You aren't a good match for our constitutional republic.
Thank you, that was helpful. I think the problem is that he went through the normal administrative process and was denied relief. Whether that was rightly decided or not isn't relevant at this point, because I don't think he has any more pathways for appeal. The only issue now is that he shouldn't have been deported to El Salvador, but to another country. My understanding was that he was sent there accidentally due to a mix-up at the ICE holding facility. Unfortunately, Bukele clearly has zero interest in releasing him, and there's zero interest by the Trump admin to use its influence to get him released. Even if he was released, he wouldn't be able to stay in the US, because it's clear that the Trump admin would simply deport him again elsewhere.
The law says that he needs to be deported elsewhere, not "the Trump admin." The reason why he wasn't supposed to be sent back to El Salvador is because gang was out to hurt him, but that specific gang hasn't been in El Salvador in 4 years. It's been rumored that the person who did the "mix up" in the holding at the ICE holding facility, was a Harris supporter and voter. That wouldn't surprised me - part of the "resistance" (of Trump and in this case, the law).
you just want to pretend that your stupid opinions are correct because you can't bear to have them challenged with facts; meanwhile, everything about this is illegal
lol --- everything about the 9-0 SCOTUS opinion is illegal? They struck down the DJ order to effectuate his return.
The Supreme Court told the district court to “clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.
I find some irony in keeping in our country a known gang member who is in the country illegally because he would be in danger from a rival gang. It seems a weak argument for asylum. Maybe he would be safer if he wasn’t a member of a criminal gang. 🤔
What has made this a cause celebre' is the career official lawyer representing the Trump Administration decided to sabotage the case. Instead of doing his job and presenting the evidence in favor of deportation, he stated to the Court that he felt the deportation was a mistake.
As a result, he and his immediate supervisor have been placed on leave by Attorney General Bondi. In one of her first memos signed after taking office, Bondi wrote to staff that “attorneys have signed up for a job that requires zealously advocating for the United States.”
“The responsibilities of Department of Justice attorneys include not only aggressively enforcing criminal and civil laws enacted by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions against legal challenges on behalf of the United States. The discretion afforded Department attorneys entrusted with those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election.”
Erez Reuveni was hired by the DOJ in 2010 during the Obama administration when Eric Holder was Attorney General. August Flentje was hired by DOJ in 1998 during the Clinton Administration when Janet Reno was Attorney General.
He was not mistakenly arrested. The administrative "mistake" averred to is in deporting him to El Salvador rather than another country. When people make a case for being in danger in their country of origin, they are to be deported elsewhere.
This looks like a new phenomenon. When I was a government lawyer for an agency in Washington, I served under both Democrats and Republicans without even considering that I should tank a case. He is unfit to represent any client in court; failure to vigorously represent your client is a disqualifying act and at base, no different in principle than stealing your clients money. In fact, that’s exactly what you’re doing.
I've read, but don't know if it's true, that the group that Garcia was afraid of in El Salvador no longer exists and hasn't existed for many years.....
Background of Abrego Garcia: His mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, when he w, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 2019, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. In Oct 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.
This is more informative than the vast majority of news articles that I've seen on this topic. Thank you. My major concern is ensuring that due process is followed, and it sounds like for the most part that this was the case for Garcia, except for the error of sending him to El Salvador vs. another country,
Really ensuring due process is followed for an illegal with a 2019 deportation order- who are you Kristi Noem? Or just a virtue signaling liberal” i don’t want to be part of a country that isn’t nice to people”? What?
Who am I? Someone that values the rule of law. I don't want to be part of a country that makes capricious decisions based on political calculation. We had plenty of that during the last four years, particularly during the pandemic.
I also highly value the civil exchange of views on a topic. How about you leave behind the ad hominem attacks and snark, next time?
Do you? Then look at the facts- deportation order in 2019 which was ignored. Due process given and ignored. But some people like yourself ignore that. Why? Sending him back to El Salvador his home country is an error? What? Why do some people feel unless they personally are consulted or get a personal explanation then there is a grievous problem.
Yes, I value the rule of law, and perhaps you should also look at the facts. Even the Trump administration admits that they made a mistake. This is from the Supreme Court: "The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal. The United States represents that the removal to El Salvador was the result of an 'administrative error.'"
In this case, ICE screwed up. They could have literally deported him to any other country but El Salvador. Now what Garcia's advocates don't seem to understand is that even if the US brought him back, they could just as quickly legally deport him again to any other country that would be willing to accept him. I have no idea why the Trump administration simply doesn't do that and end this debate, but perhaps they actually want to keep this in the public eye, since the Democrats seem tone deaf to the fact that this case isn't exactly a slam dunk for them.
This has nothing to with my need "to get a personal explanation", and all about the rule of law. You don't seem to understand that granting a government the power to abuse its power for causes that you like can easily back fire on you when the shoe is on the other foot.
The reason why he wasn't to be sent back to El Salvador, is because a gang there was out to injure or kill him. BUT that gang has been GONE from El Salvador for about 4 years, so that order should be made "null and void".
Dictators don't make government smaller, they don't release government powers back to the states, and they don't bend over backwards to televise cabinet meetings and set up open access to the people. But then, facts do not matter to the left.
I make the same argument. The response is "he is weakening federal government so he can take it over for his own purposes". As if that is logical at all. If you weaken the federal government, who is going to do your dictatorial bidding?
Similar to the logic "you get vaccinated to protect other people".
Stone included a Racket News article by Greg Collard who says: “Under a dictator or a fascist, no one could even say that [calling Trump a “Fascist”] out loud, let alone on social media. Do you think Chinese citizens are allowed to go on social media and call Xi Jinping a dictator?” China has been a dictatorship for DECADES! Right wingers are BLIND to the fact that Trump is in the process of establishing himself as an authoritarian/dictator. Since Trump loves dictators, he held a friendly, cheery meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (who calls himself “the world's coolest dictator”), a video of which is included in Collard’s article. Collard does NOT mention the most disturbing comments Trump made that he would like to send US CITIZENS (“homegrown criminals”) to Venezuela’s hellish prison, telling Bukele, that he’d “have to build FIVE more places” to hold the potential new arrivals. He says he wants to send violent criminals who “push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking ‒ that are absolute monsters” but that would undoubtedly evolve into sending the people he truly hates – his opponents who speak out against him such as journalists, people like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, etc. Although he keeps saying he has “to look at the laws”, he will undoubtedly accuse them of being “traitors” who are a “danger” to society and Bondi will come up with a way to justify it. This will eventually silence his opposition and force it underground.
Oh good God, you're truly mental. The Biden admin. jailed people who walked around the Capitol, after WALKING IN (not crashing in) TO their representative's place of government business, which THEY PAY FOR WITH THEIR TAX MONEY (and went to the bathroom, took a picture of the statue of Thomas Jefferson and then left the building) FOR YEARS in moldy, dirty, rat-infested cells in the dungeon in D.C., denying them NECESSARY MEDICINE at times! Biden truly came the closest to being a dictator in my lifetime. He went after nearly every single person who supported Trump or represented him and many were jailed on "process crimes" - crimes that wouldn't have been committed if Biden's weaponized DOJ hadn't gone after them!
I personally saw on TV people climbing walls, breaking windows and fighting with police in the US Capitol. To enter the Capitol legally, they have to pass through SECURITY!
"Every single person who supported Trump": Wow, that millions of people...
What people were jailed for "process crimes"?
You are fine with US Citizens being sent to hellish foreign prisons?
I've been trying to understand the logic of this from the Democrat side because, to me, this is a losing issue. The country is fed up with illegal immigrants being allowed in here while people who have tried to do legal immigration often wait years (or more) to do it the legal way. I have friends who did it the legal way. It's a long, drawn-out process. That said, you should not be able to sneak into a country and claim citizenship and then be rewarded with our tax dollars. Nobody believes that is right and just, except the Democratic elites, who don't have to live in a reality where this affects their quality of life. Nothing affects their quality of life.
The Democrats are acting like hall monitors right now. They have nothing else to flex about other than using the legal system to feel powerful. They don't care about this one guy. They don't care about anyone. They just want to feel like they are fighting something.
Using the courts and parsing legaleeze to feel powerful feels desperate and sad to me. You see their talking heads online feeling smug about how they know the rules and they are following them to the letter.
What they don't realize is they are losing more and more regular folks who don't fawn over highly educated tattletales.
I keep thinking of Josh Rogin on Maher the other night. That might be one of the most smug appearances on a show I've seen, and that's hard to do when you're on a panel with Maher. He out-smugged him. His entire routine was, "You're stupid. I'm right." I imagine at cocktail parties in DC and on the pickleball courts there, Rogin's a riot when he's not throwing a tantrum because he thinks a ball was out.
The entire "resistance" is to be more smug. Be more elite. Be more arrogant. Use sympathetic judges to throw crap at the wall and see what sticks.
The longer they wail about this one man, the better it is for our country. They are destroying their party and the future of it, and they aren't smart enough to know it. Because they're right. That's what they keep telling themselves. They're right. The more right they think they are, the better chance we have at normalizing the rest of the country again.
Exactly this curfuffle is really about the desperation of the Democrats to find an issue where they can create some leverage. Heaven forbid they announce policies and real critiques of Trumps direction. Weak parties go for emotional low hanging fruit. This issue is that. A side benefit is that it allows “ good” liberal people to feel virtuous and wring their hands about the poor guy from Maryland. They stand for something don’t you know 🙄 they are good people
Spot on. The Dems are all about feelings and not facts.
Another way to look at this is that these stupid things the individual Dems are doing appeal to their crazy base and keep getting them re-elected in their individual Dem districts. Then they can keep lining their pockets on their easy jobs. Only the national party suffers while the local Dems survive. Most Dem politicians are perfectly fine with this strategy. This is why you see no new Dem policy pronouncements or change of course and why they keep their ineffectual party leaders.
"I imagine at cocktail parties in DC and on the pickleball courts there, Rogin's a riot when he's not throwing a tantrum because he thinks a ball was out." Brilliant!
The readers of this Substack must be fully indoctrinated in the cult of Trump to think that it’s fine for him to send people to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center with no due process including a man Albrego Garcia that ICE admits was sent to the prison due to an “administrative error.”
Trump deported 238 illegal immigrants using the “Alien Enemies Act” claiming they are part of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua, “aligned with” the Venezuelan govt. and “perpetrating” an invasion of the US. Most of the men do not have criminal records in the US or elsewhere in the region, beyond immigration offenses, and very few of them appear to have any clear, documented links to the Venezuelan gang.
Stone states: “throwing him in prison and convicting him as a terrorist is what dictators do and it’s what people the Left did for years, not with prison (although they tried) but with “cancel culture.” I do NOT see how “cancelling” a person is COMPARABLE to sending them to a brutal foreign prison possibly for life where they are denied communication with their relatives and lawyers, and only appear before courts in online hearings, often in groups of several hundred detainees at the same time. Prison conditions in El Salvador should be understood within the context of the country’s three-year-long state of emergency, which has suspended constitutional due process rights. Human Rights Watch estimates there are 109,000 people held in prisons with an official capacity for 70,000 and 350 have died. Prisoners are subjected to torture, ill-treatment and appalling conditions, including extreme overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, and inadequate access to food and medical care. Losing a job as a result of “canceling” is certainly disruptive, but the right does not care that thousands of govt. workers are losing their jobs due to DOGE. The US is even having a “brain drain” as scientists migrate to other countries.
What scientists are leaving? And if the government pay roll isn't cut, the USA will eventually default on it's debt. Is that what you want? I bet it is, as that's the "Cloward-Piven Theory" plan! As for "being in a cult", wrong again, we are just FOR our constitutional republic and the rule of law (not made up laws, as in "show me the man" - Trump - "and I'll show you the crime"). As for these 238, all have been shown to be gang members and illegal aliens with DUE PROCESS orders of the court to be removed from the country.
The NYTimes ran the 238 names through three U.S. public records databases, checked backgrounds in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile, scoured court documents and news articles, spoke to dozens of family members and interviewed experts on Tren de Aragua. It found that only 32 of the 238 of the men sent to El Salvador have faced serious criminal accusations or convictions in the US or abroad. If they are here illegally, the US has a right to deport them, but unless they are convicted of violent crimes, I don't think they should be deported directly to a brutal foreign PRISON for life.
DOGE claims it has saved the U.S. government $160 billion by cutting wasteful spending. However, a new report by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service (PPS) suggests that these efforts may actually cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year.
After all the abuses of due process in just the J6 cases no one who didn't object to that deserves to be taken seriously. Many of the same judges currently engaged in judicial insurrection were deeply involved in that.
The U.S. must be the only country in the world that insists illegal aliens, correctly deported, be re-imported to be given "due process". And this is supposed to be taken seriously. Can't make this stuff up.
The first question I had was, why is this guy still here illegally after being here all these years? Guess he didn’t realize there was a new sheriff in town.
Some 12 million were allowed into the country under the Biden administration. Democrats refused to follow and enforce the law; instead, they pretended this was all OK because migrants were given court dates years in the future to hear bogus claims of asylum.
It’s unfortunate that the effort to undo that madness cannot be a simple, orderly process. The sheer numbers involved guarantee they will always find a case to hang their hat on that “proves” Trump and Republicans are evil and intent on disregarding the law.
Democrats deliberately created the mess, and now revel in pointing out a problem in cleaning it up.
The NYT investigated the 238 people who were imprisoned in El Salvador running the 238 names through three U.S. public records databases, checked backgrounds in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile, scoured court documents and news articles, spoke to dozens of family members and experts on Tren de Aragua. Of the 238, 32 have faced serious criminal accusations or convictions in the US or abroad, including an assault in Chicago, smuggling arms out of the United States and others accused of theft, strangulation, domestic battery or harboring undocumented immigrants. One has a homicide conviction in Venezuela, another was accused in Chile of kidnapping, drugging and raping a woman. Another two dozen of the men had been accused or found guilty of lower-level offenses in the US or elsewhere, including trespassing, speeding in a school zone and driving an improperly registered vehicle. The men have been sentenced to 1 year in the prison which Pres. Bukele called “renewable.”
While head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tom Homan, has not publicly said how gang members are identified, a govt. document called the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” instructs immigration officials to use a point system to identify members of Tren de Aragua. Eight points makes someone a “validated” member of the group. Having tattoos or wearing clothing associated with the gang is worth four points. Another document says a “crown” tattoo or “jump man” tattoo and high-end urban street wear is associated with Tren de Aragua. Several gang experts told the NYT that while some gangs use identifying marks, Tren de Aragua does NOT and MANY young men have multiple tattoos and wear high-end street wear! Megan Kelly in her clip states: The DHS group, ICE, in particular, and Tom Homan are being very careful in deciding who goes. Will they be 100% perfect? I don’t know?” I think it is ridiculous to claim Homan is being “very careful” in deciding who goes when his goal is to deport as many people as possible as quickly as he can. His intent is to deport MILLIONS!
True, they accused him of being a member of MS-13 but the rest of the 238 were accused of being in Tren de Aragua.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
Stone included a Racket News article by Greg Collard who says: “Under a dictator or a fascist, no one could even say that [calling Trump a “Fascist”] out loud, let alone on social media. Do you think Chinese citizens are allowed to go on social media and call Xi Jinping a dictator?” China has been a dictatorship for DECADES! Right wingers are BLIND to the fact that Trump is in the process of establishing himself as an authoritarian/dictator. Since Trump loves dictators, he held a friendly, cheery meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (who calls himself “the world's coolest dictator”), a video of which is included in Collard’s article. Collard does NOT mention the most disturbing comments Trump made that he would like to send US CITIZENS (“homegrown criminals”) to Venezuela’s hellish prison, telling Bukele, that he’d “have to build FIVE more places” to hold the potential new arrivals. He says he wants to send violent criminals who “push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking ‒ that are absolute monsters” but that would undoubtedly evolve into sending the people he truly hates – his opponents who speak out against him such as journalists, people like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, etc. Although he keeps saying he has “to look at the laws”, he will undoubtedly accuse them of being “traitors” who are a “danger” to society and Bondi will come up with a way to justify it. This will eventually silence his opposition and force it underground.
The local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question.
His wife explains: "After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling."
"Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. But that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from removal. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him,"
Now that she's a celebrity, she's lying. On one of her very first appearances on a MSM news show, she was asked about her accusations of his abuse and assault and she never answered. She just had this dumb look on her face and said "He's alive".
You can be careful and quick and Holman has been at the job for decades (meaning, for Dem and Rep presidents both), so I'm sure that is the case for him.
By 2014, under the Obama administration, Homan began to argue that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective means of discouraging illegal border crossings. He has denied saying "aliens commit more crimes than US citizens." In April 2018, he and Kevin McAleenan formally advised Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to implement the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration, including the prosecution of parents and the separation of children from their families. Homan participated in the May 2018 press conference announcing that the policy was going into effect. On June 5, 2018, Homan appeared for a discussion with the policy director of the Center for Immigration Studies, where he defended the separation of children from their parents. (Nice guy!)
Homan retired from his position as acting ICE director in June 2018. on November 10, 2024, that Homan would be joining the incoming administration as the "border czar." In Fab 2025, Homan met multiple times with Proud Boys associate Terry Newsome. [Why?] Decisions for identifying gang members are made using a rubric with an eight-point threshold for removal, according to a court document.
In the case of Tren de Aragua, a tattoo "denoting membership/loyalty to TDA" would count four points toward a removal action, according to the document. Homan: "People keep saying they have no criminal history. I've been doing law enforcement since 1984. Many gang members don't have criminal history. It's more than criminal history."
It appeared that the men who were sent directly to the hellish El Savadoran prison were covered in tattoos. How do they know that they didn;'t get a random tattoo
that looked similar to one assoc with gang? Abrego-Garcia was wearing a baseball cap and hoodie that was used to "prove" he belonged to MS-13.
If person is here illegally, then Homan has the right to deport them but if they have NO CRIMINAL RECORD then they should NOT be sent to prison! Next Trump will be sending "homegrown" citizens with NO criminal record to one of the 5 hellish El Salvadoran prisons he wants Bukele to build!
Holman was correct that more immigrants comment crimes. Trump's first term, the DOJ went through a few penitentiaries and counted the number of immigrants and citizens and immigrants were 80% (if I recall correctly) of the prison population.
Again with the slander - Trump isn't going to send any citizen, especially a citizen without a criminal record, to jail in El Salvador. HOWEVER, plenty of Dems have talked about putting constitutional conservatives in "re-education camps" - H. Clinton, Katie Curic and others.
Trump, the PRESIDENT, in his interview with Bukele suggested he build 5 more prisons for US citizens in EL Salvador. How is it slander to quote what Trump actually said? HRC, Katie Couric etc have absolutely NO power to implement a "conservative re-education camp."
All "potential" DACA recipients will have to take their chances while Trump gets rid of the bad guys. This "Maryland man father of three", as he is being protrayed, was purposely staying in the US ILLEGALLY. He made a bet and lost.
Remove all the political posturing and bleeding heart drama and the Garcia case is reduced to facts.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia entered the country illegally...he did.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia was given a deportation order...he was.
There is no dispute on whether that deportation order was based on evidence considered sufficient under immigration law...it was.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia was granted reprieve on deportation to El Salvador...he was, but not a reprieve on any deportation...he wasn't.
There is no dispute that the Biden Administration failed to deport him legally to some other country...they did, along with millions of others.
There is no dispute that a failure to deport then somehow grants Garcia any rights to remain in the US now...it doesn't.
So the dispute revolves around whether an illegal immigrant, an El Salvadorian citizen, who doesn't have any legal right to be in the US can be returned to the Country of origin when the condition for the original reprieve no longer exists.
There should also be NO dispute that this only about WHERE, not WHETHER Garcia can be deported.
It is only an issue because he is in a prison that the left objects to. Perhaps readers should be reminded that El Salvador was the murder Capitol of the world before Bukele rounded up and imprisoned these violent ammoral killers.
Perhaps it is El Salvador's right to decide Garcia's fate.
Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and reputed former(?) MS-13 gang member hiding out in Maryland. Of course, he was deported to El Salvador. He's their problem, not ours. If he's tried for crimes that El Salvador allege and is found innocent, then he can apply to re-enter the U.S. and this time, the legal way.
Or not. Whether or not El Salvador has evidence to convict has nothing to do with our letting him back in as a "known" or even suspected member of MS-13.
100% support the deportations, as do most Americans. I loved the press conference with El Salvadoran President Bukele. He has done an amazing job. He turned El Salvador from the most dangerous country, murder capital of the world, to one of the safest countries, no crime and improved economy. His prison is excellent & I believe if we sent the worst criminals there, if the word gets out, finally we could have fewer crimes.
Bukele calls himself the "world's coolest dictator" and locks people up in brutal, overcrowded prisons where they are subject to torture.. I wouldn't call it "excellent." The most shocking part of trump' meeting with him is that Trump wants to send US CITIZENS to them, starting with thev"worst criminals who commit violent crimes then undoubtedly evolving to people trump hates the most - his opponents who speak out against him. Trump will call them "dangerous traitors." If you love dictators so much, maybe you should move to El salvador.
Stop with the slander. Trump isn't going to send any citizen, especially a citizen without a criminal record, to jail in El Salvador. HOWEVER, plenty of Dems have talked about putting constitutional conservatives in "re-education camps" - H. Clinton, Katie Curie and others. As for "the most violent citizens" comment? I don't think he can legally do that, even if he'd liked to, just like England sent their criminals to Australia (but England is a small island, so I get why they did it).
YOU don't "think" he can legally do that...LOL! I'm sure Trump can't get his puppet AG Bondi to do anything he wants. Fox really pushed the idea of "reeducation camps" made by a few people who have absolutely NO power to implement such a thing, while Trump, the PRESIDENT, is suggesting that Bukele build 5 more prisons for US CItizens!
I think Matt's timeline omits all of Garcia's interactions with justice and law enforcement prior to his latest apprehension, and I find that curious. A more complete timeline is needed before drawing conclusions.
As much as I love Matt he is a reformed strong Democrat( why they now hate him so much) and like most people reforming to something different they lapse. We see it everywhere
I don't see it as a lapse exactly, but as a belief in iron-clad civil rights protections, and it's not an unprincipled one. We need people like that, or civil liberties will erode even more quicky than they have. I just wonder if Matt jumped into this fray a little early; he certainly has the ability to do better research than we can and find out if the claims about this guy's past have any veracity. He might still disagree with the government's actions, and we still might not like it, but at least the opinions would have better grounding.
Do I understand that you believe that an illegal immigrant ignoring a deportation order 6 years ago after due process is an issue of civil rights?really?
I'm saying we don't have firsthand knowledge of the subject. Some of the accounts I have read are in conflict. So it comes down to who you want to believe. I find Matt to be trustworthy, so I would like him to report on the whole story. If you are looking to be righteously angry at me for saying "I don't know," well, have at it, but I won't be back if that's the case. There are more productive uses of our time.
Matt hasn't done any further reporting on it as far as I know, which is disappointing. While on one hand I can hope that this guy has a terrible accident while he is vacationing in El Salvador, on the other I have a lot of respect for that pesky Constitution, which, if you are familiar, does not make distinctions between persons under its jurisdiction. For better or worse, those rights are for all, except where they have been narrowed in certain cases. These narrowings do not eliminate due process in any case, afaiu. So, unfortunately, it seems like the guy had at least some due process rights that may have been abridged. It's a sorry state that the Biden admin has left us in, but we can't become less than American just because some traitorous geezer tried to destroy the country. So get him back, give him his hearing, strip the non-removal order, and send him back again.
Abrego Garcia’s mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.
Andrew Sullivan is losing his mind. "Rationalist centrists" like him, Sam Harris, Jesse Singal, Nate Silver, Matt Yglesias, and Noah Smith are pearl clutchers who should never be taken seriously: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/pearl-clutching-centrists-fake-conservatives
Yea, they are losing their minds. Were they ever really "rationalist centrists," though? They just called themselves that. And now, their hyperventilation just shows that they never were. Sullivan canceling his trip is outright comical. So, an illegal alien gang member gets sent home... and Sullivan is worried that legal citizens might not get back into the country after traveling abroad? That seems like a huge leap. It's akin to, "Concentration camps are next! Because Hitler! And fascism!"
It’s more than a huge leap. It’s delusional.
Like OJ, Sullivan is still hunting for the real mother of Trigg Palin.
I’m a naturalized citizen of the US, and I will be leaving the country for vacation without a second thought! Seriously, these people need some kind of tranquilizer; they’ve become addicted to drama.
He actually lost it some time ago.
Controlled opposition called to action.
Exactly Sullivan shows up in the Atlantic or some TV panel- even Bill Mahr to spout this shit as the Dems need a shot in the ass
I think there is some variety in that bunch Yuri listed and I would suggest Nate Silver is more rationalist/pragmatic who strives to be objective and compensate for TDS. I was so grateful to Sam Harris for his early atheist work that I’ll overlook his current “framework” but I won’t read him any more (much less take him seriously). This comment is prior to going to Yuri’s link above to which I look forward! Thank you Yuri…
There was very little in the way of lawful behavior during the importation of millions - we don't know who these people are, and the news has been notably not good on the behavior of more than just a few. Now, suddenly, we are fainting on the altar of due process to get them back out again. The state of the law or its application was never the issue, it is about the importation of millions who the Democrats are hoping will forever vote blue in return for the complete lawlessness that got them here.
That and permanently impoverishing Americans by depressing wages and providing welfare to millions.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Abrego-Garcia in 2019 as he was looking for day labor outside a Home Depot in Maryland. A police informant told police Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 member. Immigration judges denied Abrego Garcia bond, both initially and on appeal, citing the informant’s accusation. In the order denying bond, the judge said the determination of Abrego Garcia’s gang membership "appears to be trustworthy and is supported" by evidence from the Gang Field Interview Sheet. This ruling was upheld on appeal. The order barred him from being deported to El Salvador however, due to concerns about gang reprisals against MS-13 members in that nation.
At that time, MS-13 had been designated as a criminal enterprise, but not as a terrorist organization. The Biden administration dropped efforts to deport Abrego-Garcia (along with millions of other cases).
In 2025 the 2nd Trump Administration reviewed all files of illegal immigrants with MS-13 issues and began finding and deporting them. In the case of Abrego-Garcia, sufficient evidence from the 2019 files exists to process his deportation; similar to many others. This does not require formal charges, or trials or convictions. These are administrative processes with a much lower standard of evidence. The widely noted "error" consists of his deportation to El Salvador, rather than another nation.
Great summary. And this extends such that despite Matt's nonchalant stalemate re: illegal deportation, the actual deportation was fully legal.
And for this information.
You didn't mention the 2 domestic violence charges filed by his wife in 2021. "Maryland Father" my ass.
https://www.newsweek.com/why-kilmar-garcias-wife-says-she-was-afraid-him-feared-her-child-2060781
I really want to understand this situation better as it’s the main issue that has given me pause about my vote for Trump. Can you offer some sources for this information so that I can verify with my own eyes? I’d be grateful for that!
Consider also that Bukele knows who this guy is and keeps him in prison rather than releasing him into his home country. Everyone pretends that once a spark of humanity crosses our borders that all past sins are removed. Not true as that guy found out when he went "home".
Are you kidding? You think Bukele is going to go against his "friend" Trump and release a political hot potato?
I really have no idea what the motivation is for him. Neither do you. He can be free in his homeland. Or maybe, just maybe, he is a member of MS-13. Sucks to hang out with criminals.
No, he was deported directly to a brutal El Salvador prison wher he will probably be for life!
Run by the leader of his country. He should take it up there.
Abrego Garcia’s mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, when he w, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.
You forgot to mention the 2 domestic violence charges filed in 2021 by his wife. We don't have enough illegal immigrant wife beaters in this country. I hope he lives next door to you if he is ever allowed back.
There's no way to verify if all that you say is true and it IS NOT "ONLY BEING AN ILLEGAL ALIEN", it is a felony crime as we are a sovereign nation that must know who is here and who isn't. When WE had tyrants running around and threatening, torturing, etc. us citizens, WE WENT TO WAR to free ourselves of that tyranny (or as some called it at the time, a "half-crown" because King George was so evil and crazy, he really didn't have a full crown as a king). MANY PEOPLE DIED and have SINCE died to keep our country FREE. GOOD GOD, why don't you just move to a commie/socialist "global" country. You aren't a good match for our constitutional republic.
can be best to use Bing or other search engines, as Google is heavily politicized.
.
some is on the Wiki entry.
.
this is reliable of course, sworn testimony: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815/gov.uscourts.mdd.578815.74.0_2.pdf
Thank you Tomas.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know
Thank you, that was helpful. I think the problem is that he went through the normal administrative process and was denied relief. Whether that was rightly decided or not isn't relevant at this point, because I don't think he has any more pathways for appeal. The only issue now is that he shouldn't have been deported to El Salvador, but to another country. My understanding was that he was sent there accidentally due to a mix-up at the ICE holding facility. Unfortunately, Bukele clearly has zero interest in releasing him, and there's zero interest by the Trump admin to use its influence to get him released. Even if he was released, he wouldn't be able to stay in the US, because it's clear that the Trump admin would simply deport him again elsewhere.
The law says that he needs to be deported elsewhere, not "the Trump admin." The reason why he wasn't supposed to be sent back to El Salvador is because gang was out to hurt him, but that specific gang hasn't been in El Salvador in 4 years. It's been rumored that the person who did the "mix up" in the holding at the ICE holding facility, was a Harris supporter and voter. That wouldn't surprised me - part of the "resistance" (of Trump and in this case, the law).
When your very first step into US soil breaks an immigration law, you are a criminal.
rather obviously a biased untrustworthy source "lawfare media" lol
rather obviously a biased untrustworthy source "lawfare media" lol
"lol" fucking clown
you just want to pretend that your stupid opinions are correct because you can't bear to have them challenged with facts; meanwhile, everything about this is illegal
lol --- everything about the 9-0 SCOTUS opinion is illegal? They struck down the DJ order to effectuate his return.
The Supreme Court told the district court to “clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.
Lol!! Hilarious given Trump campaigned on this- weren’t you paying attention.?
Here, FFS:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know
Took me SECONDS to find this.
rather obviously a biased untrustworthy source "lawfare media" lol
I find some irony in keeping in our country a known gang member who is in the country illegally because he would be in danger from a rival gang. It seems a weak argument for asylum. Maybe he would be safer if he wasn’t a member of a criminal gang. 🤔
Someone needs to let Matt know this-
OH RLLY?
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know
rather obviously a biased untrustworthy source "lawfare media" lol
What has made this a cause celebre' is the career official lawyer representing the Trump Administration decided to sabotage the case. Instead of doing his job and presenting the evidence in favor of deportation, he stated to the Court that he felt the deportation was a mistake.
As a result, he and his immediate supervisor have been placed on leave by Attorney General Bondi. In one of her first memos signed after taking office, Bondi wrote to staff that “attorneys have signed up for a job that requires zealously advocating for the United States.”
“The responsibilities of Department of Justice attorneys include not only aggressively enforcing criminal and civil laws enacted by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions against legal challenges on behalf of the United States. The discretion afforded Department attorneys entrusted with those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election.”
Erez Reuveni was hired by the DOJ in 2010 during the Obama administration when Eric Holder was Attorney General. August Flentje was hired by DOJ in 1998 during the Clinton Administration when Janet Reno was Attorney General.
He was not mistakenly arrested. The administrative "mistake" averred to is in deporting him to El Salvador rather than another country. When people make a case for being in danger in their country of origin, they are to be deported elsewhere.
This looks like a new phenomenon. When I was a government lawyer for an agency in Washington, I served under both Democrats and Republicans without even considering that I should tank a case. He is unfit to represent any client in court; failure to vigorously represent your client is a disqualifying act and at base, no different in principle than stealing your clients money. In fact, that’s exactly what you’re doing.
Thank you for this information.
I've read, but don't know if it's true, that the group that Garcia was afraid of in El Salvador no longer exists and hasn't existed for many years.....
Background of Abrego Garcia: His mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, when he w, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 2019, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. In Oct 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.
This is more informative than the vast majority of news articles that I've seen on this topic. Thank you. My major concern is ensuring that due process is followed, and it sounds like for the most part that this was the case for Garcia, except for the error of sending him to El Salvador vs. another country,
Really ensuring due process is followed for an illegal with a 2019 deportation order- who are you Kristi Noem? Or just a virtue signaling liberal” i don’t want to be part of a country that isn’t nice to people”? What?
Who am I? Someone that values the rule of law. I don't want to be part of a country that makes capricious decisions based on political calculation. We had plenty of that during the last four years, particularly during the pandemic.
I also highly value the civil exchange of views on a topic. How about you leave behind the ad hominem attacks and snark, next time?
Do you? Then look at the facts- deportation order in 2019 which was ignored. Due process given and ignored. But some people like yourself ignore that. Why? Sending him back to El Salvador his home country is an error? What? Why do some people feel unless they personally are consulted or get a personal explanation then there is a grievous problem.
Yes, I value the rule of law, and perhaps you should also look at the facts. Even the Trump administration admits that they made a mistake. This is from the Supreme Court: "The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal. The United States represents that the removal to El Salvador was the result of an 'administrative error.'"
In this case, ICE screwed up. They could have literally deported him to any other country but El Salvador. Now what Garcia's advocates don't seem to understand is that even if the US brought him back, they could just as quickly legally deport him again to any other country that would be willing to accept him. I have no idea why the Trump administration simply doesn't do that and end this debate, but perhaps they actually want to keep this in the public eye, since the Democrats seem tone deaf to the fact that this case isn't exactly a slam dunk for them.
This has nothing to with my need "to get a personal explanation", and all about the rule of law. You don't seem to understand that granting a government the power to abuse its power for causes that you like can easily back fire on you when the shoe is on the other foot.
The reason why he wasn't to be sent back to El Salvador, is because a gang there was out to injure or kill him. BUT that gang has been GONE from El Salvador for about 4 years, so that order should be made "null and void".
Dictators don't make government smaller, they don't release government powers back to the states, and they don't bend over backwards to televise cabinet meetings and set up open access to the people. But then, facts do not matter to the left.
I make the same argument. The response is "he is weakening federal government so he can take it over for his own purposes". As if that is logical at all. If you weaken the federal government, who is going to do your dictatorial bidding?
Similar to the logic "you get vaccinated to protect other people".
Exactly. Also, he had 4 years when he was in office the first time to take over.
Stone included a Racket News article by Greg Collard who says: “Under a dictator or a fascist, no one could even say that [calling Trump a “Fascist”] out loud, let alone on social media. Do you think Chinese citizens are allowed to go on social media and call Xi Jinping a dictator?” China has been a dictatorship for DECADES! Right wingers are BLIND to the fact that Trump is in the process of establishing himself as an authoritarian/dictator. Since Trump loves dictators, he held a friendly, cheery meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (who calls himself “the world's coolest dictator”), a video of which is included in Collard’s article. Collard does NOT mention the most disturbing comments Trump made that he would like to send US CITIZENS (“homegrown criminals”) to Venezuela’s hellish prison, telling Bukele, that he’d “have to build FIVE more places” to hold the potential new arrivals. He says he wants to send violent criminals who “push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking ‒ that are absolute monsters” but that would undoubtedly evolve into sending the people he truly hates – his opponents who speak out against him such as journalists, people like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, etc. Although he keeps saying he has “to look at the laws”, he will undoubtedly accuse them of being “traitors” who are a “danger” to society and Bondi will come up with a way to justify it. This will eventually silence his opposition and force it underground.
Oh good God, you're truly mental. The Biden admin. jailed people who walked around the Capitol, after WALKING IN (not crashing in) TO their representative's place of government business, which THEY PAY FOR WITH THEIR TAX MONEY (and went to the bathroom, took a picture of the statue of Thomas Jefferson and then left the building) FOR YEARS in moldy, dirty, rat-infested cells in the dungeon in D.C., denying them NECESSARY MEDICINE at times! Biden truly came the closest to being a dictator in my lifetime. He went after nearly every single person who supported Trump or represented him and many were jailed on "process crimes" - crimes that wouldn't have been committed if Biden's weaponized DOJ hadn't gone after them!
I personally saw on TV people climbing walls, breaking windows and fighting with police in the US Capitol. To enter the Capitol legally, they have to pass through SECURITY!
"Every single person who supported Trump": Wow, that millions of people...
What people were jailed for "process crimes"?
You are fine with US Citizens being sent to hellish foreign prisons?
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know
Hey Nathan, does lawfaremedia.org have anything to say on Abrego Garcia? I’m unable to find it online.
I've been trying to understand the logic of this from the Democrat side because, to me, this is a losing issue. The country is fed up with illegal immigrants being allowed in here while people who have tried to do legal immigration often wait years (or more) to do it the legal way. I have friends who did it the legal way. It's a long, drawn-out process. That said, you should not be able to sneak into a country and claim citizenship and then be rewarded with our tax dollars. Nobody believes that is right and just, except the Democratic elites, who don't have to live in a reality where this affects their quality of life. Nothing affects their quality of life.
The Democrats are acting like hall monitors right now. They have nothing else to flex about other than using the legal system to feel powerful. They don't care about this one guy. They don't care about anyone. They just want to feel like they are fighting something.
Using the courts and parsing legaleeze to feel powerful feels desperate and sad to me. You see their talking heads online feeling smug about how they know the rules and they are following them to the letter.
What they don't realize is they are losing more and more regular folks who don't fawn over highly educated tattletales.
I keep thinking of Josh Rogin on Maher the other night. That might be one of the most smug appearances on a show I've seen, and that's hard to do when you're on a panel with Maher. He out-smugged him. His entire routine was, "You're stupid. I'm right." I imagine at cocktail parties in DC and on the pickleball courts there, Rogin's a riot when he's not throwing a tantrum because he thinks a ball was out.
The entire "resistance" is to be more smug. Be more elite. Be more arrogant. Use sympathetic judges to throw crap at the wall and see what sticks.
The longer they wail about this one man, the better it is for our country. They are destroying their party and the future of it, and they aren't smart enough to know it. Because they're right. That's what they keep telling themselves. They're right. The more right they think they are, the better chance we have at normalizing the rest of the country again.
Exactly this curfuffle is really about the desperation of the Democrats to find an issue where they can create some leverage. Heaven forbid they announce policies and real critiques of Trumps direction. Weak parties go for emotional low hanging fruit. This issue is that. A side benefit is that it allows “ good” liberal people to feel virtuous and wring their hands about the poor guy from Maryland. They stand for something don’t you know 🙄 they are good people
Spot on. The Dems are all about feelings and not facts.
Another way to look at this is that these stupid things the individual Dems are doing appeal to their crazy base and keep getting them re-elected in their individual Dem districts. Then they can keep lining their pockets on their easy jobs. Only the national party suffers while the local Dems survive. Most Dem politicians are perfectly fine with this strategy. This is why you see no new Dem policy pronouncements or change of course and why they keep their ineffectual party leaders.
💯
"I imagine at cocktail parties in DC and on the pickleball courts there, Rogin's a riot when he's not throwing a tantrum because he thinks a ball was out." Brilliant!
Thank you for stating all this.
Best summation of the events I have read this far. Bravo.
The readers of this Substack must be fully indoctrinated in the cult of Trump to think that it’s fine for him to send people to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center with no due process including a man Albrego Garcia that ICE admits was sent to the prison due to an “administrative error.”
Trump deported 238 illegal immigrants using the “Alien Enemies Act” claiming they are part of a Venezuelan gang called Tren de Aragua, “aligned with” the Venezuelan govt. and “perpetrating” an invasion of the US. Most of the men do not have criminal records in the US or elsewhere in the region, beyond immigration offenses, and very few of them appear to have any clear, documented links to the Venezuelan gang.
Stone states: “throwing him in prison and convicting him as a terrorist is what dictators do and it’s what people the Left did for years, not with prison (although they tried) but with “cancel culture.” I do NOT see how “cancelling” a person is COMPARABLE to sending them to a brutal foreign prison possibly for life where they are denied communication with their relatives and lawyers, and only appear before courts in online hearings, often in groups of several hundred detainees at the same time. Prison conditions in El Salvador should be understood within the context of the country’s three-year-long state of emergency, which has suspended constitutional due process rights. Human Rights Watch estimates there are 109,000 people held in prisons with an official capacity for 70,000 and 350 have died. Prisoners are subjected to torture, ill-treatment and appalling conditions, including extreme overcrowding, unhygienic conditions, and inadequate access to food and medical care. Losing a job as a result of “canceling” is certainly disruptive, but the right does not care that thousands of govt. workers are losing their jobs due to DOGE. The US is even having a “brain drain” as scientists migrate to other countries.
What scientists are leaving? And if the government pay roll isn't cut, the USA will eventually default on it's debt. Is that what you want? I bet it is, as that's the "Cloward-Piven Theory" plan! As for "being in a cult", wrong again, we are just FOR our constitutional republic and the rule of law (not made up laws, as in "show me the man" - Trump - "and I'll show you the crime"). As for these 238, all have been shown to be gang members and illegal aliens with DUE PROCESS orders of the court to be removed from the country.
Scientists who are having their funding cut are considering leaving:
https://www.newsweek.com/scientists-leave-us-over-trump-nature-survey-2052067
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/world/americas/trump-migrants-deportations.html ‘Alien Enemies’ or Innocent Men? Inside Trump’s Rushed Effort to Deport 238 Migrant
The NYTimes ran the 238 names through three U.S. public records databases, checked backgrounds in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile, scoured court documents and news articles, spoke to dozens of family members and interviewed experts on Tren de Aragua. It found that only 32 of the 238 of the men sent to El Salvador have faced serious criminal accusations or convictions in the US or abroad. If they are here illegally, the US has a right to deport them, but unless they are convicted of violent crimes, I don't think they should be deported directly to a brutal foreign PRISON for life.
DOGE claims it has saved the U.S. government $160 billion by cutting wasteful spending. However, a new report by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service (PPS) suggests that these efforts may actually cost taxpayers $135 billion this fiscal year.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/elon-musks-doge-claimed-to-have-saved-160-billion-but-it-may-have-cost-americans-atleast-135-billion/articleshow/120640716.cms?
After all the abuses of due process in just the J6 cases no one who didn't object to that deserves to be taken seriously. Many of the same judges currently engaged in judicial insurrection were deeply involved in that.
thank you
It’s just the “latest thing”. It has no substance. They just find it useful to drum up discontent, distrust and discord.
DHS followed Tulsi Gabbard through airports for months. I don't recall Andrew Sullivan even noticing.
The U.S. must be the only country in the world that insists illegal aliens, correctly deported, be re-imported to be given "due process". And this is supposed to be taken seriously. Can't make this stuff up.
The first question I had was, why is this guy still here illegally after being here all these years? Guess he didn’t realize there was a new sheriff in town.
He was probably good at getting out the illegal vote/ballot harvesting.
Some 12 million were allowed into the country under the Biden administration. Democrats refused to follow and enforce the law; instead, they pretended this was all OK because migrants were given court dates years in the future to hear bogus claims of asylum.
It’s unfortunate that the effort to undo that madness cannot be a simple, orderly process. The sheer numbers involved guarantee they will always find a case to hang their hat on that “proves” Trump and Republicans are evil and intent on disregarding the law.
Democrats deliberately created the mess, and now revel in pointing out a problem in cleaning it up.
Exactly!
Im trapped in Illinois too! 😵💫
The NYT investigated the 238 people who were imprisoned in El Salvador running the 238 names through three U.S. public records databases, checked backgrounds in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile, scoured court documents and news articles, spoke to dozens of family members and experts on Tren de Aragua. Of the 238, 32 have faced serious criminal accusations or convictions in the US or abroad, including an assault in Chicago, smuggling arms out of the United States and others accused of theft, strangulation, domestic battery or harboring undocumented immigrants. One has a homicide conviction in Venezuela, another was accused in Chile of kidnapping, drugging and raping a woman. Another two dozen of the men had been accused or found guilty of lower-level offenses in the US or elsewhere, including trespassing, speeding in a school zone and driving an improperly registered vehicle. The men have been sentenced to 1 year in the prison which Pres. Bukele called “renewable.”
While head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Tom Homan, has not publicly said how gang members are identified, a govt. document called the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” instructs immigration officials to use a point system to identify members of Tren de Aragua. Eight points makes someone a “validated” member of the group. Having tattoos or wearing clothing associated with the gang is worth four points. Another document says a “crown” tattoo or “jump man” tattoo and high-end urban street wear is associated with Tren de Aragua. Several gang experts told the NYT that while some gangs use identifying marks, Tren de Aragua does NOT and MANY young men have multiple tattoos and wear high-end street wear! Megan Kelly in her clip states: The DHS group, ICE, in particular, and Tom Homan are being very careful in deciding who goes. Will they be 100% perfect? I don’t know?” I think it is ridiculous to claim Homan is being “very careful” in deciding who goes when his goal is to deport as many people as possible as quickly as he can. His intent is to deport MILLIONS!
Your golden boy is MS13, not Tren de Aragua.
True, they accused him of being a member of MS-13 but the rest of the 238 were accused of being in Tren de Aragua.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
Really, I encourage you in your determination to defend the indefensible. It is quite helpful. Maybe you can drive down Dem approval to single digits.
Stone included a Racket News article by Greg Collard who says: “Under a dictator or a fascist, no one could even say that [calling Trump a “Fascist”] out loud, let alone on social media. Do you think Chinese citizens are allowed to go on social media and call Xi Jinping a dictator?” China has been a dictatorship for DECADES! Right wingers are BLIND to the fact that Trump is in the process of establishing himself as an authoritarian/dictator. Since Trump loves dictators, he held a friendly, cheery meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (who calls himself “the world's coolest dictator”), a video of which is included in Collard’s article. Collard does NOT mention the most disturbing comments Trump made that he would like to send US CITIZENS (“homegrown criminals”) to Venezuela’s hellish prison, telling Bukele, that he’d “have to build FIVE more places” to hold the potential new arrivals. He says he wants to send violent criminals who “push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking ‒ that are absolute monsters” but that would undoubtedly evolve into sending the people he truly hates – his opponents who speak out against him such as journalists, people like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, etc. Although he keeps saying he has “to look at the laws”, he will undoubtedly accuse them of being “traitors” who are a “danger” to society and Bondi will come up with a way to justify it. This will eventually silence his opposition and force it underground.
Single digits ahead. AOC for President!
There was other evidence of his gang membership besides that one police officer. Are you a supporter of wife beaters?
The local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question.
His wife explains: "After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution following a disagreement with Kilmar by seeking a civil protective order, in case things escalated. Things did not escalate, and I decided not to follow through with the civil court process. We were able to work through the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling."
"Our marriage only grew stronger in the years that followed. No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. But that is not a justification for ICE's action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from removal. Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him,"
HAHAHAHA. She was IN COURT due to HER accusations of assault and abuse. GOOD GOD!
Uh huh. Your golden boy is a wife beater.
Source?
Court documents released today, complaints filed twice by his wife. I’m sure you can look it up yourself.
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-abrego-garcias-wife-responds-after-restraining-order-revealed-2060718
Now that she's a celebrity, she's lying. On one of her very first appearances on a MSM news show, she was asked about her accusations of his abuse and assault and she never answered. She just had this dumb look on her face and said "He's alive".
You can be careful and quick and Holman has been at the job for decades (meaning, for Dem and Rep presidents both), so I'm sure that is the case for him.
By 2014, under the Obama administration, Homan began to argue that separating children from their caregivers would be an effective means of discouraging illegal border crossings. He has denied saying "aliens commit more crimes than US citizens." In April 2018, he and Kevin McAleenan formally advised Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to implement the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on immigration, including the prosecution of parents and the separation of children from their families. Homan participated in the May 2018 press conference announcing that the policy was going into effect. On June 5, 2018, Homan appeared for a discussion with the policy director of the Center for Immigration Studies, where he defended the separation of children from their parents. (Nice guy!)
Homan retired from his position as acting ICE director in June 2018. on November 10, 2024, that Homan would be joining the incoming administration as the "border czar." In Fab 2025, Homan met multiple times with Proud Boys associate Terry Newsome. [Why?] Decisions for identifying gang members are made using a rubric with an eight-point threshold for removal, according to a court document.
In the case of Tren de Aragua, a tattoo "denoting membership/loyalty to TDA" would count four points toward a removal action, according to the document. Homan: "People keep saying they have no criminal history. I've been doing law enforcement since 1984. Many gang members don't have criminal history. It's more than criminal history."
It appeared that the men who were sent directly to the hellish El Savadoran prison were covered in tattoos. How do they know that they didn;'t get a random tattoo
that looked similar to one assoc with gang? Abrego-Garcia was wearing a baseball cap and hoodie that was used to "prove" he belonged to MS-13.
If person is here illegally, then Homan has the right to deport them but if they have NO CRIMINAL RECORD then they should NOT be sent to prison! Next Trump will be sending "homegrown" citizens with NO criminal record to one of the 5 hellish El Salvadoran prisons he wants Bukele to build!
Holman was correct that more immigrants comment crimes. Trump's first term, the DOJ went through a few penitentiaries and counted the number of immigrants and citizens and immigrants were 80% (if I recall correctly) of the prison population.
Maybe you should look it up,
Again with the slander - Trump isn't going to send any citizen, especially a citizen without a criminal record, to jail in El Salvador. HOWEVER, plenty of Dems have talked about putting constitutional conservatives in "re-education camps" - H. Clinton, Katie Curic and others.
Trump, the PRESIDENT, in his interview with Bukele suggested he build 5 more prisons for US citizens in EL Salvador. How is it slander to quote what Trump actually said? HRC, Katie Couric etc have absolutely NO power to implement a "conservative re-education camp."
All "potential" DACA recipients will have to take their chances while Trump gets rid of the bad guys. This "Maryland man father of three", as he is being protrayed, was purposely staying in the US ILLEGALLY. He made a bet and lost.
AFTER he received (due process) an Order of Deportation in 2019! He stayed 6 more years here illegally.
And got married in jail, after his child was born. He couldn't find the time before his arrest 🙄
Remove all the political posturing and bleeding heart drama and the Garcia case is reduced to facts.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia entered the country illegally...he did.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia was given a deportation order...he was.
There is no dispute on whether that deportation order was based on evidence considered sufficient under immigration law...it was.
There is no dispute on whether Garcia was granted reprieve on deportation to El Salvador...he was, but not a reprieve on any deportation...he wasn't.
There is no dispute that the Biden Administration failed to deport him legally to some other country...they did, along with millions of others.
There is no dispute that a failure to deport then somehow grants Garcia any rights to remain in the US now...it doesn't.
So the dispute revolves around whether an illegal immigrant, an El Salvadorian citizen, who doesn't have any legal right to be in the US can be returned to the Country of origin when the condition for the original reprieve no longer exists.
There should also be NO dispute that this only about WHERE, not WHETHER Garcia can be deported.
It is only an issue because he is in a prison that the left objects to. Perhaps readers should be reminded that El Salvador was the murder Capitol of the world before Bukele rounded up and imprisoned these violent ammoral killers.
Perhaps it is El Salvador's right to decide Garcia's fate.
Dick Minnis
removingthecataract.substack.com
100%
Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and reputed former(?) MS-13 gang member hiding out in Maryland. Of course, he was deported to El Salvador. He's their problem, not ours. If he's tried for crimes that El Salvador allege and is found innocent, then he can apply to re-enter the U.S. and this time, the legal way.
Or not. Whether or not El Salvador has evidence to convict has nothing to do with our letting him back in as a "known" or even suspected member of MS-13.
Correct. Either way, he was deportable.
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego-garcia-and-ms-13--what-do-we-know
100% support the deportations, as do most Americans. I loved the press conference with El Salvadoran President Bukele. He has done an amazing job. He turned El Salvador from the most dangerous country, murder capital of the world, to one of the safest countries, no crime and improved economy. His prison is excellent & I believe if we sent the worst criminals there, if the word gets out, finally we could have fewer crimes.
Bukele calls himself the "world's coolest dictator" and locks people up in brutal, overcrowded prisons where they are subject to torture.. I wouldn't call it "excellent." The most shocking part of trump' meeting with him is that Trump wants to send US CITIZENS to them, starting with thev"worst criminals who commit violent crimes then undoubtedly evolving to people trump hates the most - his opponents who speak out against him. Trump will call them "dangerous traitors." If you love dictators so much, maybe you should move to El salvador.
Stop with the slander. Trump isn't going to send any citizen, especially a citizen without a criminal record, to jail in El Salvador. HOWEVER, plenty of Dems have talked about putting constitutional conservatives in "re-education camps" - H. Clinton, Katie Curie and others. As for "the most violent citizens" comment? I don't think he can legally do that, even if he'd liked to, just like England sent their criminals to Australia (but England is a small island, so I get why they did it).
YOU don't "think" he can legally do that...LOL! I'm sure Trump can't get his puppet AG Bondi to do anything he wants. Fox really pushed the idea of "reeducation camps" made by a few people who have absolutely NO power to implement such a thing, while Trump, the PRESIDENT, is suggesting that Bukele build 5 more prisons for US CItizens!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-pushes-conspiracy-theory-190546960.html
England sent criminals to Australia from 1788- 1868 when criminals were treated with much brutality.
I think Matt's timeline omits all of Garcia's interactions with justice and law enforcement prior to his latest apprehension, and I find that curious. A more complete timeline is needed before drawing conclusions.
As much as I love Matt he is a reformed strong Democrat( why they now hate him so much) and like most people reforming to something different they lapse. We see it everywhere
I don't see it as a lapse exactly, but as a belief in iron-clad civil rights protections, and it's not an unprincipled one. We need people like that, or civil liberties will erode even more quicky than they have. I just wonder if Matt jumped into this fray a little early; he certainly has the ability to do better research than we can and find out if the claims about this guy's past have any veracity. He might still disagree with the government's actions, and we still might not like it, but at least the opinions would have better grounding.
Do I understand that you believe that an illegal immigrant ignoring a deportation order 6 years ago after due process is an issue of civil rights?really?
I'm saying we don't have firsthand knowledge of the subject. Some of the accounts I have read are in conflict. So it comes down to who you want to believe. I find Matt to be trustworthy, so I would like him to report on the whole story. If you are looking to be righteously angry at me for saying "I don't know," well, have at it, but I won't be back if that's the case. There are more productive uses of our time.
Great and now that we know some more what do you say now?
Matt hasn't done any further reporting on it as far as I know, which is disappointing. While on one hand I can hope that this guy has a terrible accident while he is vacationing in El Salvador, on the other I have a lot of respect for that pesky Constitution, which, if you are familiar, does not make distinctions between persons under its jurisdiction. For better or worse, those rights are for all, except where they have been narrowed in certain cases. These narrowings do not eliminate due process in any case, afaiu. So, unfortunately, it seems like the guy had at least some due process rights that may have been abridged. It's a sorry state that the Biden admin has left us in, but we can't become less than American just because some traitorous geezer tried to destroy the country. So get him back, give him his hearing, strip the non-removal order, and send him back again.
Abrego Garcia’s mother ran a business in San Salvador making stuffed tortillas – pupusas. Kilmar and his brother, Cesar, would make deliveries to customers. The business did well enough that a violent gang, Barrio 18, began extorting money from the family, threatening to harm Kilmar, rape his sisters, or kill Cesar if the family pay them.
Eventually, Barrio 18 tried to recruit Cesar as a member. Once, gang members entered the home and threatened to kill Cesar until Kilmar’s father paid them. Soon after, the family sent Cesar to the US. Next, the gang began trying to recruit Kilmar. The family moved twice & closed the business but Barrio 18 continued to threaten Kilmar, his sisters, and family. Finally, in 2011, Kilmar’s family sent him to the US, too. Kilmar entered illegally and made his way to MD where Cesar, now a US citizen, lived.
On Mar 18, 2019, Garcia drove to a Home Depot parking lot in MD, to look for construction work, as he had several times before. He and 3 others were picked up by ICE, put into separate rooms, and officers demanded that they give information about the other “gang members.” Abrego Garcia denied knowing anything. The next day he was taken to a removal proceedings charged only with being an illegal alien, then on Apr 24, 2019, after a month in custody, he was taken to a removal hearing and told that a local police officer who filled out a Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) charged him with being a “verified” MS-13 gang member based on his “attire” (Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie) and a confidential informant advised that he was an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns clique” (located in Long Island, NY, a state where Garcia has never lived). His lawyer was not able to cross examine the police officer because he had been “suspended”. The officer, Ivan Mendez, apparently a senior detective on Abrego Garcia’s case in 201, was later suspended from the force for a serious transgression: giving confidential information about a case to a sex worker, which calls his other cases into question. Garcia remained incarcerated but applied for asylum in an attempt to prevent his return to El Salvador, where he feared persecution by Barrio 18. October 2019 Judge Jones granted his request for “withholding of removal” based on his “well-founded” fear of persecution by Barrio 18 and he was released. The government did not appeal, so Jones’s ruling is now final. Once a year, Abrego Garcia has “checked in” with immigration officials.
On Mar 12, 2025, he was pulled over by ICE, informed that his status had changed, and flown to the El Salvador Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) on Mar 15. ICE has since acknowledged that was flown to CECOT on March 15 due to “administrative error.”
On April 7, SCOTUS issued a unanimous order requiring the government to “facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return” and “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” SCOTUS also ruled that Trump could continue to deport Venezuelan migrants using the wartime powers act for now, that targeted individuals must be given time to CONTEST their removal before they’re expelled.
In the cheery, absurd interview between Trump and Salvadoran President Bukele, Bukele stated he cannot release Garcia: “The question is preposterous: how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?" Obviously, Trump could simply ask, “We sent a man in error. Could you return him?” but he has NO intention of doing so because he wants to demonstrate that he is powerful enough refuse an order by SCOTUS.