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In March, the Trump administration sent over 200 deportees to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, using the justification of an antiquated law from 1798 and vague accusations of Venezeulan gang involvement. Over 90% of the men sent there have no criminal record in the US. 60 Minutes did some sobering reporting on this. Several of the men were targeted for crown tattoos that were obviously not gang-related. In one case a gay makeup artist was chosen for his diva crown tattoos that said “mom” and “dad” and in another a professional soccer player with a Real Madrid soccer logo tattoo, which features a crown, was abducted.
The most famous case has been Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old man from El Salvador who is married to a US citizen and works legally in Maryland in construction. He was reportedly targeted by ICE goons for wearing a Chicago Bulls cap and hoodie. The Justice Department has admitted that Garcia’s deportation was an administrative error (that lawyer has since been fired) and have been ordered to return him to the US. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld that decision last week. Trump has openly flouted the Supreme Court order. He met with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele this week and “joked” about sending US citizens to maximum security prisons there.
So many of us are alarmed and outraged at this situation. Yesterday, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in a vain attempt to secure Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release. He met with Venezuelan Vice President Félix Ulloa, who told him that the US government is paying for the incarceration of deportees. Unlike Republican representatives granted access to the maximum security prison, Van Hollen wasn’t allowed inside, nor was he allowed to speak with Garcia on the phone. Van Hollen was told that Garcia might be returned if the US Embassy in El Salvador requested it. He spoke with the people at the embassy and they had not heard from the Trump administration about returning Garcia. Van Hollen told Rachel Maddow last night that “it is pretty clear that the Trump administration has not lifted a finger to implement that court order.” I’m going to quote Axios here because they have a very good overview of this situation:
Driving the news: Van Hollen told reporters he asked El Salvador Vice President Félix Ulloa during a meeting Wednesday why Abrego Garcia is being held if U.S. courts and the government of El Salvador have found no evidence that he’s a member of the MS-13 gang.
“His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador to keep him at CECOT,” the senator said, referring to the prison Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo.
The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.What he’s saying: Van Hollen said he asked to see Abrego Garcia or to speak to him on the phone to check on his condition.
The vice president told Van Hollen he needs to make earlier provisions to visit CECOT, the senator said. Asked if he could visit Abrego Garcia if he returns next week, the vice president said he can’t make that promise, per Van Hollen.
The Maryland senator asked to speak to Abrego Garcia on the phone, and Ulloa said he cannot arrange that but can try to do so if the American embassy asks. Van Hollen said he will ask the embassy to do so.
Zoom out: AFL-CIO, one of the most powerful labor groups in the country, joined in on the calls for Abrego Garcia’s return on Wednesday.
The group said Abrego Garcia is an apprentice with SMART Union Local 100.
“The labor movement in general sees one of their fellow brothers in a notoriously heinous situation in that prison, and it has people upset, scared,” union president, Michael Coleman, said on CNN.
The White House responded to Van Hollen by amping up the rhetoric and fear mongering against immigrants, because that is all they have. Van Hollen said on MSNBC that “I may be the first member of Congress here, but I can assure you more will be coming.” Other Congresspeople who are interested in going to El Salvador include Cory Booker and Maxwell Frost. I hope that Garcia is still alive and that he can be returned safely to his family. In the mean time a federal judge has found cause to charge the Trump administration with criminal contempt of court. May Judge Boasberg have the best security around him at all times.
It’s heartening to see our representatives and judges put their lives on the line for democracy. So many of us are also speaking out and protesting. I’ll be joining another protest this weekend. History has shown that it takes about 3.5% of the population to topple a dictator. On Rachel Maddow’s show last night she showed snapshots of the protests, gatherings and resistance happening around the US. There were hundreds of thousands of people protesting just this week. I’m going to stay and fight.
Very proud of how much our Maryland delegation has been speaking out and fighting for their constituents in this terrible time. I hope this kicks off a wave of pressure from other members of Congress.
It’s great that he’s keeping attention on this, and that other dems are planning to go also. But this doesn’t end until they have the votes to impeach him and then, the votes to convict him.
Also, if anyone listened or watched the photo op with Bukele, it’s very clear Trump has no f***ing clue what the courts are ordering. He didn’t know the SCOTUS had ordered his administration to return Garcia. And Stephen Miller jumped in to spin the order to make it sound like the Court backed the administration’s actions. Trump has no idea what’s going on. It’s not like he reads. He just relies on what other people tell him and clearly they’re lying.
I am glad he did this, SOMEONE had to do this and there should be more pushback. We are in dark days. You will never be patriotic or Christian or white enough for this administration. Thank goodness they cannot jail or deport us all, but we are already living under an American dictatorship and no one knows what to do except post about it, and who knows for how long we can do that. I am scared.
As a German, I truly hope you can turn the tide against the road this sh*tshower of an administration is trying to take your country on.
This should never have come to pass in the first place, but I am hoping the few senators fighting this, together with the universities fighting back and so many people protesting will make a difference.
And maybe nature intervening, I mean, he is old and decrepit and those Trumpsters might wake up once he is gone. And the GOP might return to a resemblance of pre-Trump sanity (not that I liked them before, and even the Dems are too right-of centre for me, but, ho hum). You need to have more credibility back in your politics as the bar is currently about 30k feet below hell.
Well I believe Trump is going to make history. He’ll be the first American president to be impeached – what is it it’s going to be four times now – three or four times? And good. It can’t come fast enough!
After that, then throw his criminal ass in jail! I have no idea how a convicted felon was elected anyway!
If we have free and fair elections and Dems win the House at midterms then maybe. But he’s not getting impeached for the next two years. The Republican House members would never,
Since the US is paying for El Salvador to hold these people (unlawfully), where is that money coming from? ICE? Homeland Security? Where? If that money was appropriated by Congress, then it has to be used in specific ways, and kidnapping/ rendition is not one of them.
We’ve seen that the Supreme Court has no problem stepping in and preventing the executive from spending money on things like student loans and healthcare. Not this?
Under GW Bush, Congress prohibited the use of funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo to the US court system so I don’t see why Congress couldn’t prohibit the use of funds to fly these folks to a foreign gulag.
But they won’t because the GOP loves this. They’re all complicit and we must never forget.
This is the first year I’ve ever faced a tax bill and it was a hard decision to pay it. knowing our tax money is funding this cruelty while lining Bukele’s pockets.
People are being kidnapped and sent to death camps. This is what’s happening. His attack on Black and brown people and higher education all to diminish the lives of those who not white won’t stop until real action by the courts are taken.
I have broken down three different times crying about what is happening. I’m so tired.
Thank you for fighting! And I’m sure you vote too when the time comes. At 76, my protesting days are over, but I will vote as long as I can breathe and encourage everyone to do the same. Somehow, someway we will all get through this nightmare together. Be safe, everyone.
My honest suspicion is that he’s dead, along with the rest. They’re either being human trafficked into a slavery network or executed like a concentration camp. That’s one part of why they aren’t doing anything to help him. Doing so would reveal the truth.
I feel sick and so angry. I know they’re looking for Abrego Garcia and good but also what about the hairstylist Hernandez?
They’re using Garcia as their poster child because he’s a cis het father with a nuclear family. It’s easier to make people sympathize with the man abducted and separated from his children. Sadly, a gay makeup artist doesn’t spark the same outrage in the general public.
Plus, the administration flat out admitted they made a mistake taking Garcia.
Yes, they need to bring them ALL back! 90% have no criminal record.
YOUR MOVE, Andy Harris. You’re a Republican, representing the area of Maryland where Garcia was taken by ICE. You could visit that prison and get him out. Are you DOING anything!?!? This is what Harris, that complete piece of crap, had to say:
“Just ran into a 73 year-old Marine veteran who is furious that our senator [Van Hollen] is spending taxpayer dollars trying to bring an illegal alien gang member back into our country.”
HE’S NOT AN ILLEGAL ALIEN GANG MEMBER. Christ! He had legal asylum status, is married to a US citizen, and is not part of a gang just because he’s Salvadoran. Andy Harris KNOWS all this — he’s a physician, not stupid — but he is actively choosing to be complicit in the crimes of this administration. Purely awful.
My parents are in Harris’ district and they write and call him all the time but he’s just not interested. He’s such an a-hole.
My mom has a friend who worked with him when he was a practicing doctor and the scuttlebutt was that he was an arrogant ahole then and no surgeon wanted to be scheduled with him. when you’re too arrogant for the surgeons……
The amount of lies pouring out of the Trump Administration about Garcia is astounding. The claims of his affiliation with the MS-13 gang were NEVER adjudicated in a court of law. There were hearsay allegations from an informant (a detective, later suspended for unrelated misconduct) on a police field report, used at his 2019 bond hearing. Hardly the same thing as Garcia having due process. Later, an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal” status, which allowed him to live and work legally in the U.S. due to the risk of persecution if returned to El Salvador. Now, Pam Bondi released the temporary restraining order that Garcia’s wife filed back in 2021, in another attempt to discredit him. If we are going to just go with allegations – let’s all remember that Trump’s first wife Ivana made claims in court filings that Trump r**ped her, which she later withdrew. OR the dozens of other women who claimed Trump sexually assaulted them. See how that works?!
You know who did have his case adjudicated in a court of law and was found guilty of 34 felonies? That Orange menace.
I hate all these people.
Y’all I think the revolution is coming.
A green card holder we know (white man who writes publicly against trump) was stopped when entering the US after vacay and he was detained and searched. Including his infant! They apologized and said they had to – he’s on a list.
I don’t think midterms can solve what is happening.
The question is will we be brave enough?
I honestly don’t know if I want to put my life on the line but these are the stakes.
Even Gitmo detainees who were captured abroad–who never set a foot on American soil–were protected by the Geneva Convention. They had the right to petition for habeus corpus, they had access to lawyers, were given dur process, and had the right to dispute their terrorist designation.
It is absolutely insane how far we’ve fallen. The International Olympics Committee should strip us of our right to host the Olympics and should bar us from participating. I know it would suck for American athletes but this administration is committing crimes against humanity and the world needs to punish us for it. I want Trump and his goons to face some international repercussions beyond costing us $20B in tourism $$$.
FIFA should pull the World Cup
Can you say which protest you’re joining? I’d like to go too.
Check this site to find a protest near you
https://www.fiftyfifty.one/
Some of the Republican elected pieces of crap are fully complicit, totally onboard with the fascist express because they’re culty and stupid enough to think that this time a dictatorship will end differently than it ever has.
But not all the Republicans are true believers. Some of them are cowards. But some of them are being blackmailed, and somewhere, some people know the blackmail that’s keeping them in line. Let it out.
Frankly, if Moscow Mitch wants to rehabilitate his spoiled legacy, he should begin to release the truth of the GOP’s history of stealing elections since 2000. This is all happening and it’s real, but none of this is real. America is not a fascist nation. The GOP has stolen our country from us.
Lisa Murkowski’s comments about being scared were chilling. She didnt just mean she’s scared of being called a nickname on social media. she’s scared of being the target of political violence for disagreeing with trump.
It’s hard to have any sympathy for people like Murkowski (and all the other spineless Republicans) who have directly enabled Trump to be in the position he is today. They created this monster.
What they can do is caucus with the Democrats and impeach this asshole.
I agree overall, but its still a very bad situation. Even if someone like her or McConnell wants to completely go against Trump, can you do that knowing you are putting your family in danger? These people are going after Amy Coney Barrett for crying out loud.
Of course had they voted to remove him 4 years ago this wouldn’t be an issue but……here we are.
I get the instinct to hate Murkowski–I really do–but if she wasn’t in that seat we’d probably have someone far, far worse. Alaska went 54-41 Trump after all.
I also think if she had switched parties, she’d have lost that seat quickly. The fact that she’s there and has parted ways with the GOP on a few votes is all we can really ask for at this point, sadly. We’ll see how Alaskans feel in 2028 when she’s up for re-election…
And I actually appreciated her candor in that townhall–chilling, indeed.
@kitten I have a lot less hate/anger for Murkowski than I do for Susan Collins. How concerned can one senator be while still voting for the felon?!?!
@Becks1 – yeaaaaaah, I don’t care. Van Hollen is doing this. Pritzker is talking. AOC is quite loud, too. I’m sorry, If *elected officials* are concerned about where we are, if they understand that we’re IN a constitutional crisis, that we are under a dictatorship, *they are the ones who can stop it.* They have to give up the currently idiotic idea of “comity” and they need to start talking truth. These elected officials have power, power and protection. I do not need her crocodile tears when she’s one of the reasons we’re in this soup.
🎯
I’m so proud of this man. I sent him an email on his webpage thanking him for all he’s doing. We need to hold up the people willing to do the heavy work. I’m disabled I donate where I can and try to get the word out. I’m also participating in all the boycotts and will protest. He may not represent my state of Oregon but there’s no reason not to thank this man for standing up.
Thank you Senator Chris Van Hollen and, yes, I hope for more members of congress to join voices and also do in-person visits.
From a non-us point of view this is one of the scariest story ever. I am so sorry that this happens to those of you who actually did their duty and voted against that orange fascist buffoon and I hope that everything will be alright in the end.
Celebitchy, I am so glad you cover news like this. Thank you!
I cannot wait until we are back to at least a semblance of normal in this country.
One thing I love about this country is many people are still here to do what’s right. This is one good news and hopefully it can get pushed through. Gavin and the state of California suing Trump, Harvard and many universities standing their ground against this administration, now Sen Van Hollen trying to help get Kilmer released. It’s just a start of a resistance that will keep growing. And this administration is just digging and digging themselves into a bigger hole.
He’s alive. Van Hollen met with him.
https://x.com/chrisvanhollen/status/1913034619710034094?s=61&t=9TaAsfwrl1H_hiFD2SEi3A
Just saw this news too. Thank God he is alive!!!