Latest news with #KilmarAbregoGarcia
Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Why Trump and Bukele are destroying Kilmar Abrego Garcia's life
In March, the United States government deported to El Salvador 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who had lived and worked in the US for almost half his life. Little did he know that he would soon be the face of US President Donald Trump's sinisterly exuberant mass deportation campaign. Married to US citizen Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia was detained while driving in Maryland with the couple's five-year-old autistic son, who got to witness his father's capture by the US forces of law and order and has apparently been severely traumatised as a result. In a subsequent court affidavit, Vasquez Sura said her son, who cannot speak, had been 'very distressed' by the 'sudden disappearance of his father', crying more than usual and 'finding Kilmar's work shirts and smelling them, to smell Kilmar's familiar scent'. Of course, tearing families apart and traumatising children has long been par for the bipartisan course in everyone's favourite 'land of the free', although Trump has certainly made more of a sensational spectacle out of it than his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden and Barack Obama. Anyway, there is nothing like sowing a bunch of fear and psychological trauma in the name of national security, right? Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador along with more than 200 other people, who shared the honour of serving as demonised guinea pigs in the Trump administration's current experiments in sadistic countermigration policy. The deportees were swiftly interned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), the notorious mega-prison built by Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's self-described 'coolest dictator in the world'. The facility houses thousands of people arrested under the nationwide 'state of emergency', which was declared in 2022 and shows no sign of abating. Under the pretence of fighting a war on gangs, Bukele has imprisoned more than 85,000 Salvadorans – over 1 percent of the country's population – in an array of jails that often function as blackholes in terms of indefinitely disappearing human beings as well as any notion of human and legal rights. And now that incoming US funds and deportees have boosted El Salvador's international carceral clout along with Bukele's tough-guy image, there is even less of a rush to end the 'emergency'. Meanwhile, the case of Abrego Garcia in particular has provided both Trump and Bukele with an extended opportunity to showcase their mutual passion for sociopathy and disdain for the law. As it so happens, Abrego Garcia's deportation to El Salvador occurred in direct violation of a 2019 ruling by a US immigration judge, according to which he could not be deported to his native country on account of the dangers that such a move would pose to his life. Indeed, Abrego Garcia fled to the US as a teenager, precisely out of fear for his life following gang threats to his family. And although the US government was quickly forced to acknowledge that his deportation in March had occurred 'because of an administrative error', the Trump-Bukele team remains determined not to rectify it. After all, this would set a dangerous precedent in suggesting that the possibility of recourse to justice does in fact exist, and that asylum seekers in the US should not have to live in terror of being spontaneously disappeared to El Salvador by 'administrative error'. As per a recent New York Times article exposing the details of the debate within the Trump administration over how to manage the PR side of the Abrego Garcia blunder before it became public, officials from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 'discussed trying to portray Mr. Abrego Garcia as a 'leader' of the violent street gang MS-13, even though they could find no evidence to support the claim'. But a lack of evidence has never stopped folks who are not concerned with facts and reality in the first place. Trump officials have continued to insist on Abrego Garcia's affiliation with MS-13, while the president himself has unabashedly invoked a doctored photograph of tattoos on the man's knuckles. The administration has also relied heavily on the fact that, in 2019, the police department in Prince George's County, Maryland, decided that Abrego Garcia was a gang member because he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat, among other oh-so-incriminating behaviour. To be sure, the frequency with which US law enforcement outfits cite Chicago Bulls merchandise as alleged proof of gang membership would be laughable given the US basketball team's massive domestic and international fanbase – if, that is, such preposterous profiling tendencies did not directly translate into physical and psychological torment for Abrego Garcia and countless other individuals. In April, the US Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's return to the US. In addition to thus far failing to comply with that order, the administration has gone to ludicrous lengths to defy a separate order from US District Judge Paula Xinis that it provide details about what exactly it is doing to secure Abrego Garcia's release. Apparently irked by Judge Xinis's pushiness, Trump administration officials then went with the good old 'state secrets' excuse, which would enable the withholding of information regarding Abrego Garcia's case in order to safeguard 'national security' and the 'safety of the American people', as DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin put it. Bukele, for his part, has handled the Abrego Garcia situation with a petulant and vengeful machismo befitting the world's 'coolest dictator', taking to X to ridicule the wrongfully abducted and imprisoned man. During an April visit to his partner in crime in the Oval Office in Washington, Bukele made clear to reporters that he would not be lifting a finger on Abrego Garcia's behalf: 'How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?' Speaking of terrorism, it is worth recalling that, long before the current 'state of emergency' in El Salvador, the US had an outsized hand in supporting right-wing state terror in the country, where the civil war of 1979-92 killed more than 75,000 people. The majority of wartime atrocities were committed by the US-backed Salvadoran military and allied death squads, and countless Salvadorans fled north to the US, where MS-13 and other gangs formed as a means of communal self-defence. Following the war's end, the US undertook the mass deportation of gang members to a freshly devastated nation, paving the way for continued violence, migration, and deportation and culminating, of course, in the world's coolest dictatorship. As they say, nothing fuels the consolidation of power and evisceration of rights like a solid 'terrorist' enemy – and at the present moment, Abrego Garcia holds the dubious distinction of serving as that enemy for not one but two sociopathic heads of state. At the end of the day, though, Abrego Garcia is no Osama bin Laden; he is just a random guy whose calculated torment is meant as a warning to anyone who might be feeling too confident in the rule of law. Trump has already proposed sending US citizens to El Salvador for incarceration, as well – and to hell with any semblance of legality. To that end, the president has proposed that Bukele build more prisons, a project that presumably will not require much arm-twisting. Now, as the US government goes about annihilating the rights of foreign nationals and legal citizens alike, it is safe to assume that no one is safe. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Fox News
5 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Deported alleged gang member Abrego Garcia 'will never be on American streets again,' DHS says
The Department of Homeland Security doubled down on Wednesday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member deported to his native country of El Salvador, "will never be on American streets again." The agency's remarks came amid criticism from U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., who tried to visit Garcia on Memorial Day. Ivey initially posted a video on X about the attempted visit, saying that he represents Abrego Garcia, and that the Salvadoran government stonewalled his efforts. He urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday to present evidence in court that Garcia is an illegal immigrant. Democrats have maintained that Garcia was denied due process when he was deported despite being in the United States for years. "Let us be crystal clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia will never be on American streets again," a Homeland Security post on X states. "Advocating for an illegal alien, MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and wife beater over ACTUAL Maryland constituents victimized by illegal alien crime is appalling." Since his deportation, several Democrats have attempted to visit Garcia in the El Salvadoran prison where he's being held to conduct wellness checks. The Trump administration has pointed to evidence that Abrego Garcia was involved with MS-13 and human trafficking. It has also cited court documents detailing Abrego Garcia's alleged physical abuse of his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. Meanwhile, Democrats describe him as a "Maryland man" who was not given his due process in court before being deported. "If there is nothing to hide, cut the crap. Let his lawyer and I check on him," Ivey said in his video message. "I'm the congressman who represents Kilmar and I came all the way down from the United States after we contacted their ambassador, after we made formal requests through our ambassador to the El Salvadoran government, and we came here to visit him today." Fox News Digital has reached out to Ivey's office.
Fox News
5 days ago
- General
- Fox News
US judge blasts Trump lawyers for 11th-hour tactics in MS-13 deportation case
A federal judge in Maryland scolded Trump administration lawyers on Tuesday for waiting until the eleventh hour to seek an extension in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Salvadorian migrant and alleged MS-13 member deported to El Salvador in what officials have acknowledged was an administrative error. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis denied the Justice Department's 30-day extension request, noting that Trump administration lawyers waited until "the very day" their response was due to file. She also said they "expended no effort in demonstrating good cause" to comply with her earlier orders. "They vaguely complain, in two sentences, to expending 'significant resources' engaging in expedited discovery," Xinis said of the government's efforts. "But these are burdens of their own making." She also noted the number of times the administration has delayed submitting information in the case despite the fact the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration this year to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the U.S. "The court has conducted no fewer than five hearings in this case and at no point had defendants even intimated they needed more time to answer or otherwise respond," Xinis said, adding that the defendants are "intimately familiar with the causes of action and of the pending deadline." "Thus, to say now that additional time is needed to do that which the law requires rings hollow," Xinis said in denying the motion. Hours later, the Trump administration filed with the court a motion to dismiss the case, citing what it described as a "lack of jurisdiction." Xinis has not yet responded to the motion to dismiss. That filing comes amid a monthlong court fight over the status of Abrego Garcia, who remains in El Salvador. Xinis in April ordered the Trump administration to comply with an expedited discovery schedule to determine whether they were complying with the directive to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Since then, lawyers for the government and Abrego Garcia's attorneys have sparred with Xinis in court over what exactly it means to "facilitate" his return. Xinis most recently described the process as beating a "frustrated and dead horse." She previously took aim at what she deemed to be the lack of information they submitted to the court as part of an expedited discovery process she ordered last month, describing the government submissions as "vague, evasive and incomplete" responses, and which she said demonstrated "willful and bad faith refusal to comply with discovery obligations." She also chastised their efforts to invoke the state secrets privilege, noting at a status hearing this month that the administration tried to invoke the privilege via a footnote that referenced a filing in a different case before a different federal judge. She said that would not pass muster in her court. The order comes as Trump officials have repeatedly alleged that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though any formal ties have not been proven. Xinis has indicated growing impatience with the Trump administration's apparent failure to comply with her orders and submit the requested information. This month, she sparred multiple times with DOJ lawyers over their assertions that Abrego Garcia was lawfully detained and deported. "I can't count the number of 'I don't knows' my wonderful clerks and I have heard," she said of depositions from Trump administration officials. The order is the latest development in the ongoing feud between Trump officials and the courts over the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law used earlier this year to quickly deport migrants from the U.S. To date, the Trump administration has not knowingly complied with any court orders to return migrants who were removed and sent to El Salvador in the early wave of deportation flights, despite earlier court orders from Xinis, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and others. It is unclear whether Xinis plans to begin contempt proceedings against the administration, though the federal judge in D.C. said earlier this year that he had found probable cause to do so.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
After failed trip to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Maryland congressman says El Salvador mission was "beyond disappointing"
Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivey expressed disappointment after returning from El Salvador without being able to see Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was mistakenly deported from the U.S. in March. Abrego Garcia remains in custody in a Salvadoran facility despite ICE admitting his deportation was due to an administrative error and despite federal and Supreme Court orders for the Trump administration to facilitate his return. Rep. Ivey denied access Rep. Ivey traveled to El Salvador on Friday, May 23. Before making the trip, Ivey said he made a formal request with the Salvadoran ambassador to see Abrego Garcia and confirmed with the Salvadoran government through the U.S. ambassador. Despite his planning, Ivey said when he arrived at a prison in Santa Ana to see Abrego Garcia, he was denied access and told to go back to San Salvador to get a permit. "They knew why we were coming, and they know we have the right to do this," Ivey said in a social media video. "So, they need to just cut the crap. Let us get in there and have a chance to see him and talk with him." After returning to the U.S. on Tuesday, May 27, Ivey told WJZ that he was not given a reason for being denied a meeting. "There's no real good reason for it," Ivey said. "They routinely let in Republican members of Congress, media outlets that they think are sympathetic." Checking on Salvadoran prison conditions Ivey said one of the goals of his trip was to check on the conditions at the lower-security facility that Abrego Garcia was moved to after he was initially held at CECOT, a notorious supermax prison. Ivey also said he wanted to see how American taxpayer dollars were being used to house deportees in El Salvador. "As a member of Congress, you know, we have collectively the power of the purse," Ivey said. "We have oversight obligations and responsibilities. We're supposed to go look at things like how American tax dollars are being spent." Abrego Garcia's attorney and a member of a Maryland-based workers' union joined Ivey for the trip. "It was, I thought, you know, beyond disappointing that they wouldn't allow an international delegation from Congress to go in and visit," Ivey told WJZ. Rep. Ivey: U.S. is paying El Salvador to jail deportees Abrego Garcia was among nearly 230 men who were put on a flight and deported from the U.S. to a Salvadoran prison in March. The Trump administration claimed they were all terrorists and gang members, and used a World War II-era law to send them to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia's lawyers and family have repeatedly denied claims that he is affiliated with a gang, citing his clean criminal record. According to Rep. Ivey and Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia in March, the Salvadoran government is being paid by the U.S. to keep the deportees as prisoners. "I'm not even completely sure there's an actual written agreement between the United States and El Salvador," Rep. Ivey said. "But my understanding is the United States, the Trump administration is paying millions of dollars to the Bukele administration, the president of El Salvador, in exchange for them jailing deportees from the United States." Sen. Van Hollen shared a similar sentiment after meeting with Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa. "...the Government of El Salvador is holding [Abrego Garica] solely at the request of your Administration and, specifically, because you are paying them to imprison him," Van Hollen said in a letter to President Trump. Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case plays out in court Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally and lived in Maryland for 14 years before he was taken into custody by ICE agents. In 2019, he was granted a withholding of removal order that should have prevented him from being deported to his native country of El Salvador. After his March deportation, Abrego Garcia filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, sparking a legal battle that continues to play out in court. A federal judge and the Supreme Court have both ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return. However, in mid-May, attorneys for Abrego Garcia accused the administration of stonewalling the court orders after the government invoked the states secrets privilege, allowing them to withhold information from the court. "Judges at every level of the federal court system have said 'bring him back,'" Ivey told WJZ. "It's just a question of how long the Trump administration is going to continue to try and ignore those obvious orders and drag their feet and avoid the ultimate day in court that Kilmar deserves and should get under the Constitution."
Fox News
6 days ago
- General
- Fox News
White House rages at House Democrat for ‘shameful' Memorial Day trip to visit suspected MS-13 gangbanger
The White House ripped Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., for making a "shameful" Memorial Day trip to El Salvador in an attempt to visit deported illegal immigrant and suspected MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The White House's rapid response account said of Ivey's trip, "This moron spent his Memorial Day trying (and failing) to visit a criminal illegal immigrant gangbanger in a foreign country. For Democrats, criminal illegals > American citizens every time." Ivey posted about the attempted visit on his X account, saying that he represents Abrego Garcia, and that the Salvadoran government stonewalled his efforts to conduct a welfare check. "Today, I was denied access to seeing my constituent, Mr. Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If there is nothing to hide, cut the crap. Let his lawyer and I check on him," he said. "I'm the congressman who represents Kilmar and I came all the way down from the United States after we contacted their ambassador, after we made formal requests through our ambassador to the El Salvadoran government, and we came here to visit him today." "We need to bring him home. I won't stop until we do," Ivey added in an X post. Abrego Garcia's deportation to his home country, El Salvador, has caused significant controversy. The Trump administration has pointed to evidence suggesting that Abrego Garcia was involved with MS-13 and human trafficking to justify his deportation. The administration has also cited court documents detailing Abrego Garcia's alleged physical abuse of his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. Democrats, meanwhile, say he is a "Maryland man" who was not given his due process in court before being deported. Since Abrego Garcia's deportation, several Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., have made trips to El Salvador to conduct similar wellness checks and to advocate for his release. The trips have stirred significant controversy as well, with many asking why Democrats are spending so much time advocating for a suspected gang member who was unlawfully present in the U.S. The video also caught the attention of White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson. Jackson told Fox News Digital that "it's shameful, and an insult to the American people, that a Democrat Congressman spent his Memorial Day trying to visit a deported illegal alien, MS-13 terrorist, human-trafficker, and wife beater." "This pathetic stunt tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of the modern Democrat party – they're putting criminal illegals over American citizens all the time," said Jackson. In addition to the wife beating evidence, Fox News Digital has previously reported on documents detailing Abrego Garcia being stopped by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper after he was "observed speeding" and unable to stay in his lane in 2022. The trooper noticed eight individuals in the car with Abrego Garcia, who said he began driving three days prior from Houston to Temple Hills, Maryland, via St. Louis to "perform construction work." The report states that the trooper suspected it was a human trafficking incident, as there was no luggage in the vehicle. Additionally, the individuals in the car reportedly gave the same address as Abrego Garica's home address. When speaking with the trooper, Abrego Garcia allegedly "pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions." After the incident, the officer decided not to give Abrego Garcia a citation for the driving infractions, but rather to give him a warning for driving with an expired license. The White House has not held back in its criticisms of Van Hollen's visit. In April, the White House tweeted side-by-side photos of Trump meeting with the mother of Rachel Morin, who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2023, and Van Hollen sitting with Abrego Garcia with the caption, "We are not the same." Rachel Morin was a Maryland resident, as is her mother, Patty, who said that Van Hollen had not reached out to her since her daughter was murdered. Van Hollen responded to this criticism in a Fox News interview in which he said he "did have concern" for the Morin family and his "heart goes out to every Maryland family that is the victim of violence." Van Hollen also said that "there is zero connection between the horrible murder of Rachel Morin and the situation with Abrego Garcia." Ivey did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
