Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back - now what will his supporters say?
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the "Maryland Man" whose deportation to El Salvador has been described by the Democrat media as mistaken and "declared illegal" by the Supreme Court has been brought back to the US. But his return is not what Democrats and their allies in the media expected. Mr. Garcia was extradited to the US to face criminal charges in Tennessee. It will be curious to see what his legal and Democrat supporters have to say now that his situation essentially has gone from bad to worse.
1. It was about the process, not the person.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland, had already begun to back away from Mr. Garcia when it was first revealed that Mr. Garcia was not the loving father originally depicted but a gang member and wife beater. The Senator decided his position was about seeing due process done and not about the individual. With the announcement of the charges, Senator Van Hollen has completed the distancing, by "...welcom[ing]the news of Abrego Garcia's return, saying it would vindicate his due process rights."
Then the Senator opened the ball on the falsehoods that Democrats and supporters will use to spin the tale of Mr. Garcia. Senator Van Hollen said "The Administration will not have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along."
Mr. Garcia had his day in court. A court had ordered, in 2019, that Mr. Garcia be deported, with the proviso he not be sent to El Salvador, his home country. There is no reason for the Trump Administration to "make its case in court" again on that topic. If the Trump Administration had simply sent him to a country other than El Salvador, there would be no basis for the controversy that erupted.
2. "Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you're punished, not after"
Those are the words of Mr. Garcia's attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. Let's see. As stated above, Mr. Garcia appeared before an immigration court years ago and was ordered deported. That means he had a chance to defend himself before being deported. Now, Mr. Garcia is being returned to the US to stand trial for various crimes. That means Mr. Garcia will get the chance to defend himself and he will be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
3. "Now after months of delay and secrecy, they're bringing him [Garcia] back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him."
Again a quote from Mr. Garcia's attorney. Let's unpack that because there are multiple topics there.
A) They (the US Government) are "bringing him back not to correct their error but to prosecute him" Mr. Garcia was deported to El Salvador. He is a citizen of El Salvador. The President of El Salvador, during a public appearance with President Trump, said his Government was not releasing him to the US. The El Salvador government told that to Senator Van Hollen and various other Democrat officials who went to visit with Mr. Garcia. The US needed a basis to get El Salvador to return Mr. Garcia. The solution: if Mr. Garcia has a warrant for his arrest, the US can file extradition papers to get Mr. Garcia returned.
B) Why the "months of delay?" All of the above takes time - getting the indictment, getting the warrant, filing for extradition. The indictment was issued last month. It took from then until last Friday to negotiate extradition, bring Mr. Garcia back to the US and get Court approval to unseal the indictment - meaning get permission to make it public. Sounds to me like that was not delay, that was following the process.
C) Why the "months of ... secrecy?" Well, that's how grand juries work, it's the law. Grand juries deliberate in secret. You usually don't announce a grand jury investigation because a) that creates very negative publicity for the target of the investigation and b) the grand jury may not return an indictment, which means the person's reputation was ruined for nothing.
The indictment of Mr. Garcia was sealed by the Court where the grand jury was working. That means the Trump Administration could not go public with the news that Mr. Garcia was indicted or they'd be breaking the law. The indictment against Mr. Garcia was only unsealed on Friday, June 6 after the US had Mr. Garcia in custody. The Government was required by law to keep all of that secret.
4. "This shows that they [the Trump Administration] were playing games with the court all along."
Facts suggest otherwise. The President of El Salvador told President Trump to his face, with press recording it, that he was not sending Mr. Garcia back to the US. Officials of the El Salvador government told Democrat officials who flew to El Salvador that Mr. Garcia was not going to be returned.
Why did El Salvador change their position? The US and El Salvador have an extradition treaty so they are obligated under that treat to send individuals to the US when there is a warrant for that person's arrest.
5. We shouldn't believe the Government is saying about Mr. Garcia
A) Garcia's lawyers said "...the allegations were spurious and should be 'treated with suspicion' because of the Trump Administrations effort to publicly assail Abrego Garcia's character throughout his detention in El Salvador."
That's funny. The reason the Trump Administration was publicly assailing Mr. Garcia was because his lawyers and the Democrats portrayed him as a metal worker living with his wife and children. The media referred to Mr. Garcia as a "Maryland Man." Clearly all of that was a lie.
As we found out before the indictments, Mr. Garcia is involved with MS-13, was a human smuggler and was a wife beater. The Trump Administration was put in a position where they had to set the record straight. And it was others in the media - Fox News for one I believe - who exposed some or all of the wife beating charges.
B) Garcia's lawyers are now saying "There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy."
There they go suggesting Mr. Garcia is just a sheet metal worker innocent of all charges. Keep in mind, a jury did see the evidence and did agree to indict Mr. Garcia. Also, Attorney General Pam Bondi did not say Garcia was the leader of the smuggling ring, just that he was involved in the ring, according to the article I cited.
6. The charges are retaliation for bringing negative publicity on the Trump Administration.
No, the charges are direct result of Mr. Garcia's attorneys and the Democrats drawing attention to him. Their allegations that the Trump Administration deported an innocent sheet metal worker, depriving his wife and child of his company required that someone in the Administration look further into his background.
If they had just focused on him being sent to El Salvador and the previous judge's instructions to send Mr. Garcia anywhere but there, there would have been no need for the Trump Administration to look into Mr. Garcia's past.
Bet the others in that smuggling ring are just thrilled that Abrego Garcia drew attention to them - leading the Government to haul them in to testify before a grand jury and breaking up the smuggling ring.
* All quotes cited above are from a story in Politico on June 6, 2025 by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney.
Politico - Abrego Garcia Return story
Comments