The federal government and conservative news outlets are conducting a smear campaign against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man whom the Trump administration kidnapped and imprisoned in El Salvador, and whose alleged misdeeds have no relevance whatsoever to his right to be free from extrajudicial imprisonment abroad.
Abrego Garcia arrived in the United States in 2012 after he was forced to flee his native El Salvador by a local gang that repeatedly subjected him to extortion and death threats. In 2019, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia “withholding from removal,” which prohibited the federal government from sending him back to El Salvador since he faced a “clear probability of future persecution,” and Salvadoran authorities were “unable or unwilling to protect him.”
Abrego Garcia went on to make a life for himself in Maryland. He married an American citizen. He started a family. And he was picking up his 5-year-old son after work on March 12 when he was seized by immigration agents. The Salvadoran government published photos days later celebrating its receipt of a shipment of American migrants. It was then that Abrego Garcia’s family learned that the Trump administration claimed he was a gang member and sent him to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), an infamous Salvadoran prison, without so much as a court hearing.
Abrego Garcia has not been charged or convicted of anything, and the United States has conceded in court filings that his removal from the country was an “administrative error.” Multiple courts have also ordered the government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador. But the Trump administration has refused to bring him home. Instead, the government and cooperative media outlets have been alternately digging up dirt on Abrego Garcia and inventing an outlandishly false criminal history to justify denying him his constitutionally guaranteed process.
In an April 14 press release, for instance, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin likened Abrego Garcia to Osama bin Laden. McLaughlin contended that the media wanted the public to believe Abrego Garcia is “just a Maryland father” but “Osama Bin Laden was also a father, and yet, he was not a good guy, and they actually are both terrorists.”
A few days later, DHS published what it called a “bombshell investigative report,” claiming it revealed that Abrego Garcia was involved in human trafficking and a member of the international criminal gang MS-13. This “report” is little more than a paragraph about a December 2022 traffic stop during which Tennessee Highway Patrol gave Abrego Garcia a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license. It also referenced the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit’s “validation” of Abrego Garcia’s purported gang membership, which included expert analysis like: “Wearing the Chicago Bulls hat represents thay [sic] they are a member in good standing with the MS-13.” Since Bulls hats are some of the best-selling sports merchandise in the country, wearing one seems to be about as useful an indicator of MS-13 membership as using Colgate toothpaste.
Additionally, DHS uncovered and publicized two unredacted petitions for an order of protection filed by Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. In another press release, McLaughlin argued that the existence of the petitions proved that Abrego Garcia is “a violent illegal alien who abuses women and children,” and justified his warrantless arrest and summary removal to a country to which he could not legally be removed. “He had no business being in our country and we are proud to have deported this violent thug,” said McLaughlin.
Conservative news affiliates have echoed the White House’s arguments while diligently recounting every alleged slap and shove. USA Today released audio of Sura’s testimony at a hearing seeking a temporary protection order. Fox News claimed that Democrats are “facing a narrative reckoning” as a “dark picture of Abrego Garcia emerges.” And Axios framed the abuse allegations as “stiffening” the Trump administration’s “resolve” to prevent Abrego Garcia from returning to the country. Indeed, when a journalist suggested last week that Donald Trump use the phone in the Oval Office to “call up the President of El Salvador and say, ‘send him back,’” the president demurred. “If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” said Trump. “But he is not.”
Photo of Jennifer Vasquez Sura, wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, speaking at a rally and press conference (Getty Images)
The idea that the administration’s refusal to bring Abrego Garcia home is in any way based on his conduct rather than his skin color is farcical, especially since the government only began its hunt for incriminating stories after ejecting him from the country as part of its “mass deportation” campaign. The argument that accusations of misconduct justify extralegal punishment is similarly outrageous, especially coming from Donald Trump. Unlike Abrego Garcia, Donald Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse by a jury of his peers. Unlike Abrego Garcia, Donald Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women. And unlike Abrego Garcia, Donald Trump has a criminal record. Throughout his long history of illegal and offensive behavior, Trump received the benefit of due process. Apparently, he thinks he’s the only one who should.
If criminality—or even danger to women—were the proper basis for removal, then it would be Trump who should be summarily shipped to a cell in El Salvador. But that is, of course, not the proper basis. Nor should it be. Due process is a right, not a privilege, and the means through which allegations are proven. Yet the Trump administration and its allies are attempting to use these stories to legitimize the violations of Abrego Garcia’s constitutional rights.
Ironically, it is Jennifer Vasquez Sura, Abrego Garcia’s alleged victim, who understands this best. After the government and conservative media publicized a painful part of her personal life, Sura forcefully argued that Abrego Garcia’s alleged misconduct does not cancel out constitutional rights. “No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. 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 deportation,” said Sura. “I will continue to stand by him and demand justice for him.”
It is easier for oppressive governments to undermine rights writ large if they start with people who are unpopular. The Trump administration’s attacks on Abrego Garcia aim to normalize the conservative view that rights are something to which they alone are entitled, and which they can selectively bestow upon others as they see fit. By trying to convince the public that Abrego Garcia is a bad guy so he doesn’t deserve rights, conservatives are implicitly and necessarily trying to get Americans to reject the principle that rights are for everyone, and not just the special favorites of the Republican Party.
