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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Lest We Forget: Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Lest We Forget: Kilmar Abrego Garcia

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The Supreme Court ordered Wilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. over a month ago.
Trump is STILL defying them.

[image or embed]

— Jon Cryer (@mrjoncryer.bsky.social) May 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM

Excellent expose from the Washington Post: “Trump’s 48-hour scramble to fly migrants to a Salvadoran prison” [gift link]:

The message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio to El Salvador’s Foreign Ministry outlined an audacious plan: The United States would be sending as many as 500 Venezuelan gang members to the Central American nation, and it planned to do so within 24 hours.

The March 13 communication was part of secretive negotiations with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and served as Rubio’s formal notice that the Trump administration was sending the Venezuelans to be imprisoned there for a year “or until a determination concerning their long-term disposition is made,” documents show. Detainees at the megaprison have no access to lawyers or contact with their families.

A Washington Post investigation shows how officials raced to execute the plan, rounding up some of the men at their homes the same day Rubio’s message went out. And they pressed forward with the removals, even as Venezuela agreed to accept deportation flights, in a high-stakes bid to show power and deter migrants from attempting to cross the border illegally.

The Post examined immigration and court records, and conducted interviews with attorneys, friends and family members, to piece together information about more than 50 of the men believed to be imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center, the megaprison often referred to by its Spanish acronym, CECOT. The review shows that despite the administration’s claims, many of the immigrants sent to El Salvador had entered the United States legally and were actively complying with U.S. immigration rules…

Per the Bulwark, “Kilmar Is a Symbol Now – And the White House is desperately trying to fight it”:

… Why is the White House working so hard to smear this man, even after the administration acknowledged it wrongly deported him to a prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses? After defying a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return, the administration has become obsessed with winning the public-relations fight over who Abrego Garcia is, because We accidentally sent a Maryland dad to a foreign torture prison and can’t be bothered to get him back doesn’t poll well outside the extreme MAGA fringe. In the administration’s thinking, Abrego Garcia must be a villain—and in their telling, he’s a dangerous gang member no one should want to bring back into the country…


FreeKilmar and ‘Bring Kilmar Home’ are born

Amir Fallah is an artist who exhibits his work around the world. One of his pieces is currently being shown at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Called “You Can’t Use an Old Map to Explore New Worlds,” it’s pretty badass.

Fallah’s neighbor is Chris Newman, one of the lawyers working on Abrego Garcia’s behalf. Fallah’s and Newman’s kids are best friends.

When the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), where Newman serves as general counsel, needed help to get the word out about their April 19 call to action for artists to create works about the injustice of Abrego Garcia’s case, Newman knew whom to call…

Lest We Forget: Wilmar Abrego Garcia

Protestors call for the release of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to CECOT prison in El Salvador before the administration of US President Donald Trump admitted he was sent there due to an “administrative error,” outside the Metropolitan Detention Center of the Federal Bureau of Prisons during a May Day Workers Unite! march in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2025. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    My new daily ritual includes saying his name every day. I have no idea where that falls on the useful-to-futile scale, but simply keeping him in mind seems like something I, personally, have to do.

  8. 8.

    linnen

    Nitpick with the article quote, isn’t MAGA already the extreme fringe?

    Then I read again that it was from the ‘Bulwark’, so yes there are people that think MAGA has an extreme fringe and there is a non-fringy MAGA that does not want to throw brown people into a foreign run GITMO.

  9. 9.

    Chetan Murthy

    I think about Mr. Abrego Garcia every day.  I wrote to Gov. “GoodHair” Newsom about him, explaining that if he couldn’t stand up for immigrants in Calfornia, how could I trust that he’d stand up for me?  And if he wouldn’t stand up for me, then what business did I have staying in California (and the US)?

  12. 12.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT: This miniseries based on Lapierre and Collins book, Freedom at Midnight about how independent India and Pakistan came to be, looks interesting.

    Its available on Sling TV for streaming.

    Traile

    You need to know the origin story of India and Pakistan to understand the bad blood between the two countries.

  13. 13.

    suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I have no idea where that falls on the useful-to-futile scale, but simply keeping him in mind seems like something I, personally, have to do. 

    It helps keep you emotionally connected to others, and that matters.

  14. 14.

    WTFGhost

    One question I’ve pondered, and I know others have as well.

    Let’s pretend the Tadmin (rhymes with “tantrum”) gave each person the opportunity to prove who they were, and to rebut the evidence the government has against them. Let’s even posit that some reasonable evidentiary standard is created by the judiciary, since the Tadmin won’t use one.

    Under what legal authority can the President throw a person into even, say, a domestic prison, for a year, incommunicado, if they are a terrible, ruthless, vicious, murderous, raperous, puppy-killerous, people who are FORBIDDEN for the TENTH TIME to use the “I know Noem is, but what am I?” defense, etc., member of Gang De Headline, if they’ve committed no crime in the US?

    I mean, I get the Tadmin is still using the “the courts have no authority over those who save their country!” defense, so, first, we’re establishing that habeas corpus exists and must have real force behind it. I mean, after that, when the Tadmin is saying “we’re holding them because (there must be an argument, right?) which grants us authority to detain them for a period of X days, incommunicado if we feel like it.” They can’t really be invoking the “Nanny nanny boo boo” defense this early, can they?

  15. 15.

    Jay

    The Tennessee Holler
    ‪@thetnholler.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Steve Smith & Kid Rock’s hypocrisy getting some national recognition

    May 15, 2025 at 6:17 AM

    bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lp7lytuv5k2x

    DJTdiot supporter had to close 3 of his bar/restaurants, over the weekend, because of ICE raids, and he only employs the undocumented. So he closed up rather than have ICE human traffic his staff.

  16. 16.

    bbleh

    This, very much this.  Make the issue “immigrants,” and the MAGAtariat and the Wingnut Wurlitzer are free to go nuts with categorical slander (“drug dealers,” “rapists,” “criminals,” “disease carriers,” “anchor babies”), but make it *A* “Maryland dad” with a recognizable face hustled off to a foreign torture prison by faceless bureaucrats and the whole conversation changes.

    Likewise imo not Medicaid generally (“welfare,” “deficit,” “moochers,” “out-of-control librul spending”) but *A* widowed grandmother who has exhausted her savings and sold her house and now is facing eviction from her assisted living facility.

    National Republicans are monsters, and the HUMAN consequences of their monstrosity need to be shouted from the rooftops every day.

    @Manyakitty: oooh yes.

  18. 18.

    Kirk

    Yeah, I want Garcia back but that’s just a symbol.

    I want them all back; including the rapists and murderers and drug dealers (if there are any).

    Due process applies to all, not just to the “right people”. No person shall be deprived of liberty without the due process of law.

    Bring them back. Give them their due process. If found guilty penalize them or deport them in accordance with our laws. If innocent, leave them to increase us all.

  21. 21.

    BlueGuitarist

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of SMART (International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers). The union is working to bring him home, includes a video
    smart-union.org/defending-our-rights-fighting-for-kilmar-abrego-garcia-and-his-right-to-due-process/

    building trades unions too:
    Check out this short video of Frank Murray, President of Ironworkers Local 7, Boston, putting the story in the context of worker safety and the billionaire class trying to pit workers against each other:
    instagram.com/reel/DJmn6qaP0YE/

  23. 23.

    Josie

    @SiubhanDuinne: I do something similar. In the Episcopal service, there is a time for prayers of the people. One paragraph prays for people who are ill or suffering, and I have been quietly saying Mr. Abrego Garcia’s name then. It is a little thing, but I hope he realizes how many people are thinking of him.

  25. 25.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Unfortunately, the courts (especially SCOTUS) do not really have people w/ guns in their disposal to enforce their judgments.

  26. 26.

    TONYG

    This is an impeachable offense by Trump, of course, if we still had a functioning democratic republic.

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @Jay: Republicans will never convict. They had their chance twice and they didn’t take it, even after he attacked the Capitol. It’s a waste of time for Democrats. I’m not blaming Democrats for anything.

  31. 31.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Chetan Murthy:

    We can only hope that when he runs in 28, a lot of us will still be around to remind people he’s a crap candidate.

  32. 32.

    Jay

    The Daily Beast
    ‪@thedailybeast.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    Kristi Noem has been working with the producer of “Duck Dynasty” to pitch a reality TV show—titled “The American”—where immigrants will compete in a string of challenges across the country “for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship,” according to a new report.

    Noem Plots Reality Show Where Migrants Fight for Citizenship
    A Homeland Security official told the Daily Beast that the show is in the early stages of vetting, though approval has not been given—or denied.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com
    May 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM

    Everybody can reply
    515 reposts
    2.7K quotes
    1.2K likes

    bsky.app/profile/thedailybeast.bsky.social/post/3lpao55dnus2b

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @zhena gogolia:

    While Rethugs never convict, it’s a stage for the Democratic Party to get some of the illegal stuff in the Media, making it clear to the FNNYT that this shit is illegal. Maybe even some judges.

  38. 38.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Jay:

    I don’t care what kind of Political Performance Theater Dems do in the House via a vis impeachment. If it’s a better publicizing tool, great

    But expecting FTFNYT to admit anything he’s doing is illegal is beyond wishful thinking.

  39. 39.

    Steve LaBonne

    Knowing that Trump will never face any accounting for his crimes makes me want to throw up.

  42. 42.

    Jay

    LMFAO at DJTdiot’s Middle East Investment deals.

    Sawdi Arabia’s deal might be possible, but wont happen.

    UAE upped the ante, promising to invest 100% of their GDP in the US.

    Qatar topped that by promising to invest 175% of their GDP in the US.

    Iran is expected to follow with a promise of 10,000% of their GDP.

  45. 45.

    Jay

    Nathan Kalman-Lamb
    ‪@nkalamb.bsky.social‬

    Follow
    A principled student said in a grad speech that the “only appropriate thing to say in this moment” is to acknowledge the “atrocities” currently being committed in Palestine.

    In response, NYU is withholding their diploma + apologizing to the community for the trauma the audience was “subjected to.”

    bsky.app/profile/nkalamb.bsky.social/post/3lp7ey4gcek2k

    Freeze peach, amirite?

  46. 46.

    Jackie

    @Jay: I was just about to post that. What’s really unbelievable, is that it’s seriously being considered. “It will be a ratings hit!”

  49. 49.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Jackie: MC’d by Russell Crowe – at the end of each show, he asks the audience, “Are you not entertained?’

  53. 53.

    Bill Arnold

    Mr. Trump, stable genius, allegedly POTUS (even though constitutionally ineligible, 14th A). Video and rest of transcript at link.
    04:02 When you look at what’s happening with Russia and Ukraine, the drone is killing tremendous

    04:07 numbers of people.
    04:08 You hide behind a tree and the drone comes down and it circles you with with fire.
    04:12 You don’t have a chance.
    04:13 The tree comes down also, by the way.
    04:15 It’s so intense.
    04:16 I mean, you see these trees being knocked down like like they’re being sawed down by a top
    04:21 of the line.
    04:22 Timberman like like, you know, who Shawn Duffy?
    04:26 Do you know that Shawn Duffy, the head of the Transportation Department, who’s working
    04:30 right now on the airports and getting a system because Biden didn’t do a thing for four years.
    04:36 And Pete Buttigieg was the head and he goes bicycle into work.
    04:41 He takes a bicycle to work.

    Mr Trump explains a bit later that Sean Duffy was a champion pole climber, to excuse his scatter-brain.
    Background (2011):
    Sean Duffy No Stranger to Logrolling (Jacqueline Linnane, November 4, 2011)

    Duffy’s hometown, Hayward, which is in his district, is home to the annual Lumberjack World Championships. Contestants compete in events such as chopping, sawing, logrolling and tree climbing.
    “It’s all skills of the old-time lumberjack,” he explained. “As a little boy, I saw these guys come out from the West Coast to climb 90-foot speed-climbing poles. It was the bull riding of the rodeo to lumberjack sports.”
    He wasted no time getting into the ring. At 13, an audacious Duffy convinced older speed climbers to teach him the basics, and shortly after, he was outfitted in boot spurs, a harness and a rope.
    Speed climbing is a timed sprint up a wooden pole and a controlled free fall back down. The pole lengths vary greatly. The 60-foot pole is usually the shortest, and from there, they measure 80, 90 and 100 feet. The 100-foot poles are rarely seen in competition because of their scarcity.

  54. 54.

    Jackie

    Florida Man:

    A notorious serial killer known as the “Casanova Killer” used his final moments before execution on Thursday to praise President Donald Trump as he delivered a MAGA-inspired political message that stunned witnesses.

    “President Trump, keep making America great. I’m ready to go,” Glen Rogers, 62, said while strapped to a gurney at the Florida State Prison just before the lethal injection drugs were administered, according to media reports. His final statement, which also included remarks for his family and the loved ones of his victims, was witnessed and reported by journalists from the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press.

    Rogers, who was convicted of killing five people across the country in the 1990s, was executed Thursday for the murder of Tina Marie Cribbs. He became known as the “Casanova Killer” because of his “his good looks and ability to charm his future victims, and as the ‘Cross Country Killer’ because the victims all lived in different states: California, Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.”

    “I know there’s a lot of questions that you need answers to,” he reportedly told the families of his victims Thursday. “I promise you in the near future the questions will be answered and I hope in someway will bring you closure.”

    But it was his unusual mention of Trump that confused many in the room.

    “I was like, ‘Where did that even come from?'” Randy Robertson, whose mother, Andy Lou Jiles Sutton, was one of Roger’s victims. His wife, Amy, also present in the execution chamber, added: “What the hell?”

  56. 56.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @YY_Sima Qian: We disagree.  The decisions are important in  and of themselves.  They matter as something  to rally around.  They also are markers of the rule of law and show how lawless Trump and his cronies are.  Don’t make light of people doing the right thing.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    @Omnes Omnibus: Court decisions still matter.

     

    we are probably going to find out that judges can only make nationwide injunctions against actions by Democratic Presidents.

  61. 61.

    Jay

    Squeaker Johnson:

    “The reason that many people refer to the Bidens as the Biden crime family is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains, in the back rooms. They were trying to conceal it […] Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open.”

    And that is why, if you wave at the store security camera, shoplifting is legal.

  64. 64.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Kirk:
     

    I want them all back; including the rapists and murderers and drug dealers (if there are any).

    Due process applies to all, not just to the “right people”. No person shall be deprived of liberty without the due process of law.

    Well said. Everyone is familiar with Miranda rights (probably more than half of you have had them read to you!) but how many people are familiar with Mr. Miranda and why he needed to know his rights? He was an awful human being. But he still had rights! Unlike, BTW, states, which do not have rights.

  65. 65.

    Steve in the ATL

    @YY_Sima Qian:
     

    Good to see the unions asserting their influence.

    You are dead to me.

    Kidding, of course, especially since I just took a new position as employment counsel rather than labor counsel. So I might actually be “in the ATL” now!

  66. 66.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Jay: UAE upped the ante, promising to invest 100% of their GDP in the US.

    Qatar topped that by promising to invest 175% of their GDP in the US.

    Iran is expected to follow with a promise of 10,000% of their GDP.

    [In the voice of Chico Marx] I got lots of numbers left.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

     

     

    @zhena gogolia: Here’s a data point on Impeachment, from a May 4 CNN article:

    GOP amps up impeachment talk as party leaders woo Kemp

    President Trump and GOP leaders are beginning to plot their midterm push to hang on to power amid a shaky political environment, recruiting key candidates in critical battleground House and Senate races while leaning hard on an issue that could animate the MAGA faithful: impeachment.

    While Democratic leaders are wary of a third impeachment, the topic has become a prominent discussion in GOP ranks….Republican leaders are hoping the talk could drive up turnout in a year when Trump is not on the ballot.

    This proves nothing; like I say, its just a data point. But here’s another one: Democrats impeached Trump in late 2020 and a second time in early 2021, and Trump won election four years later.

  68. 68.

    Jackie

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I just took a new position as employment counsel rather than labor counsel. So I might actually be “in the ATL” now!

    Good for you! How will you ever adjust to becoming a homebody? :-D

  71. 71.

    Geminid

    I posted a comment yesterday about a May 14 New Lines Magazine article concerning Venezuelans deported from the US to prisons in El Salvador, titled:

    They Wanted a Better Future in the US. Now They are Jailed in El Salvador

    The detention of Venezuelans by President Bukele has left their relatives protesting for their freedom, with little hope in sight.

    This seems like a good thread to link to the article again:

    https://www.newlinesmag/reportage/they-wanted-a-better-future-in-the-us-now-they-are-jailed-in-el-salvador

    Welp, that link doesn’t work. I’ll try again downthread. It’s a good article, as New Lines reporting consistently is, and worth looking up for those interested.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    @Steve in the ATL: Google tells me the decision was 5:4.

    :-/

    I think the decision was correct, but it shows how close the result was, and the importance of having sensible people on the courts.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Jay: A lot of the numbers include deals announced in the years past, & many probably will never materialize.

  79. 79.

    Timill

    Anyone else collect Kindle Rewards points? I’m puzzled, as my total has increased by 32 over the past few hours without the need to actually buy anything…

    Maybe I’ll be up to 300 points tomorrow without having to spend more money.

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    @Timill: I think what tripped me up the first time was I left out the slash at the end, after -salvador/.

    Are you familiar with New Lines Magazine? It’s edited by Syrian American Hassan I. Hassan. It covers a wide range of topics in depth.

    I was introduced to Mr. Hassan by the journalist Oz Katerji last December, when he cited Hassan as a reliable source for Syria news.

  82. 82.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Timill: I should go check mine; I will get various rewards if I go with slow shipping at Amazon, and there are some days where they do double points for Kindle purchases.

  85. 85.

    prostratedragon

    Propublica:

    The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk

    Reporting Highlights

    “Maximum Pressure”: The State Department conducted a monthslong campaign to push a small African country to help Musk’s satellite internet company, records and interviews show.
    “Ram This Through”: Working closely with executives at Starlink, the U.S. government has made a global push to help expand Musk’s business empire in the developing world.
    “Crony Capitalism”: Diplomats said the events were an alarming departure from standard practice — because of both the tactics used and the person who would benefit most from them.

    BlueSky thread

  86. 86.

    Darkrose

    @Josie: I haven’t been to church in years (and I just learned that my childhood church has closed :( ) but IIRC, some Episcopal Churches let parishoners add names out loud during the Prayers for the People. Is that something your church does, or could you ask the priest to pray for KAG and all who are unjustly imprisoned?

  88. 88.

    gene108

    NYT (via archive.ph) summary of the Republican tax bill.

    Interestingly enough they did eliminate taxes on tips, OT, and a tax credit for people on Social Security. What they also did was make these temporary, set to expire in 2028.

    The measure also includes several new, temporary tax cuts that Mr. Trump campaigned on, including his promises not to tax tips or overtime. His pitch not to tax Social Security benefits takes the form of a bonus $4,000 deduction available to Americans over 65, with the benefit shrinking at higher income levels. Americans would also be able to deduct interest on car loans from their taxable income, though the car has to be made in the United States.
    The reductions would last only through 2028, as would a $1,000 addition to the standard deduction and a $500 bonus to the child tax credit, which now maxes out at $2,000. Children born over the next four years would receive $1,000 deposited in a so-called “MAGA account” that is invested in the stock market.

    They also pushed the full work requirement for Medicaid to 2029.

    Scaling back Medicaid

    The bottom line: The bill makes major changes to reduce the cost of the health insurance program for the poor and disabled. The centerpiece of those efforts is a strict work requirement for childless adults without disabilities, which would require beneficiaries to document 80 hours of monthly work, or prove they qualified for an exception, or else risk losing their benefits. Those new rules would not kick in until 2029, after the next presidential election.

    Looks a couple of poison pills should Republicans lose control of government in 2028, so the incoming Democrats get stuck with the federal Medicaid work requirement and taxes on tips and OT.

    They’re still fucking over people on Medicaid, though.

    More immediately, the legislation would make it easier for states to cancel people’s coverage by allowing them to increase paperwork requirements and drop those who don’t respond to requests to verify their income or residency. It also would require states to impose co-payments for a wide array of medical services for adults on Medicaid who live above the poverty line, a policy some Democrats described as a “sick tax.”
    Another provision would reduce Medicaid funding to states that use their own tax revenues to provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants, a change that could affect financing for 12 mostly Democrat-controlled states. The legislation would bar Medicaid from providing funding to Planned Parenthood as long as the organization continued to provide abortions. And the bill would limit strategies that states have developed to tax medical providers and pay them higher prices for Medicaid services.
    Taken together with policies that would affect private Obamacare coverage, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation would cause 8.6 million more Americans to be uninsured at the end of a decade, while reducing federal spending on health care by more than $700 billion. That estimate may be updated in the coming weeks as the office continues to analyze the bill.

    archive.ph/FriNw

  90. 90.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Jay: ​
     

    Too bad senior Dem “leadership” have cancelled Impeachment.

    What color is the sky on your planet?

  92. 92.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Baud: we need to keep going after more journalism and publicity until it becomes something they can’t deny any longer.

    republicans doing destructive outrageous actions: as long as it’s happening, shout it loud.

    it’s hard. To get people to see it. My republican voting and conservative acquaintances seem Certain they know the truth.
    Why? Persuasive lies? Poor discernment? Too much media telling lies and sanewashing… presenting stuff as reasonable or normal. (JFC)

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