Below is my column at Fox.com on the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and what lies ahead in the case. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal prosecution, one thing seems virtually certain: Abrego Garcia will eventually go home . . . to El Salvador.
Here is the column:
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is coming back to the United States, but he is hardly thrilled by the prospect. He is returning not for a removal hearing, but for a trial that could result in a lengthy prison sentence, followed by immediate removal back to El Salvador. After the issuance of the federal grand jury, the United States is now the last place on Earth that Abrego Garcia wants to visit.
Abrego Garcia has been fighting to return after he was mistakenly removed to El Salvador. That immediately drew irate orders from a federal judge, and many of us argued that the Administration should have simply brought him back for what seemed an easy case for removal after a hearing.
Instead, the case dragged on for months after the Trump Administration challenged the court orders as judicial overreach and unconstitutional. The indictment issued by a federal grand jury allows the Administration to end the controversy on its terms. Rather than yielding to the challenged orders, it can bring Abrego Garcia back to stand trial.
It is an example of the old adage “one day on the cover of Time, next day doing time.” Sometimes notoriety can be your undoing.
If Abrego Garcia had been removed, little attention would likely have been drawn to his prior conduct. Indeed, as all the Democratic politicians, such as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), arrived in El Salvador with an army of reporters, one has to wonder if Abrego Garcia was having second thoughts about his challenge.
While news organizations like NPR described Abrego Garcia as a family man “living quietly” in Maryland, the facts proved far more damning. He was repeatedly accused of beating his wife. The court record also included allegations of his involvement in a notorious gang:
“Per the Prince George’s County Police Gang Unit, ABREGO-Garcia was validated as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) Gang. Subject was identified as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha MS-13, “Chequeo” from the Western Clique a transnational criminal street gang. This information was provided by tested source who has provided truthful accurate information in the past. See Prince Georges County Police Department (Gang Sheet).”
MS-13 is designated as a terrorist organization.
Abrego Garcia was also suspected of human trafficking. Indeed, the description of the stop leaves one astonished that he was allowed to drive away. According to DHS:
“On Dec. 1, 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. Upon approach to the vehicle, the encountering officer noted eight other individuals in the vehicle. There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. Additionally, all the passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s home address. During the interview, Abrego Garcia pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions. When asked what relationship he had with the registered owner of the vehicle, Abrego Garcia replied that the owner of the vehicle is his boss, and that he worked in construction…
The encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license. Abrego Garcia’s driver’s license was a MD “Limited Term Temporary” license. The encountering officer gathered names of other occupants in the vehicle but could not read their handwriting. The officer did not pursue further information due to no citation being issued.”
The videotape mystified many with how Abrego Garcia was allowed to go along his way. Here was an undocumented immigrant stopped with an expired license in a car with eight others traveling from Texas to Maryland. He gave a false statement, and the officer suspected human trafficking but let him go.
It is alleged that the person whom Abrego Garcia described as his “boss” at a construction job was Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, an illegal migrant previously convicted of human smuggling. The black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban belonged to Hernandez Reyez.
Now, the indictment details a broader array of evidence. The grand jury found evidence of extensive human trafficking violations over 9 years. The indictment speaks of cooperating witnesses prepared to implicate Abrego Garcia in an international smuggling operation involving guns, narcotics, and humans that included over a 100 such transports.
“Over the course of the conspiracy the coconspirators knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens who had no authorization to be present in the United States and many of whom were MS 13 members and associates The co conspirators also worked with transnational criminal organizations in Mexico to transport undocumented aliens through Mexico and into the United States.”
Ironically, in light of this indictment, any criminal defense attorney worth his salt would have opposed deportation to the United States from El Salvador. Instead, Abrego Garcia will face a much longer possible criminal sentence. He will eventually then be deported to El Salvador regardless of the outcome of the criminal prosecution. Abrego Garcia never had a compelling basis for remaining in the United States. He gamed the system for years, a system that seems utterly incapable of dealing with this national emergency.
He will get due process, but make no mistake about it. Abrego Garcia is coming back, but he is not coming home.
MAGA has TDS.
Biden’s Bolshevik Birthing Boyz are in a Midol Moment doom loop six months after Trump’s SECOND inauguration.
What? No tax evasion charges, or did he file his state and federal income taxes for what he earned from the smuggling?
Professor Turley writes, “He gamed the system for years, a system that seems utterly incapable of dealing with this national emergency.” How right you are, Professor.
At this point, everyone who reads this blog knows what will happen when a Democrat gets into the Oval Office. They/them will flood us with illegals, again, with the deliberate goal of someday marginalizing the votes–and eventually the freedoms–of anyone who opposes the Democrat Party on any issue.
This is a national emergency, and Chief Justice for the first time in his career has strangely run out of legal inventions. He can save Obamacare, but he can’t save the Republic from a lawless–and increasingly violent–and increasingly undemocratic–Democrat Party. Northern Europe has already slid into a fatal globalist-leftist dementia, so it’s not like the Chief Justice doesn’t know how this will end >:-(
We are not Europe, and the 49% of so-called Americans who want to imprison the other 51% aren’t going away anytime soon. If the black robes won’t reign in the Democrats’ gaming of America, patriots will stop tapping away on keyboards and start taking action. It could get very nonlinear, and nobody in their right mind would prefer that over a reasonable legal solution.
The progs should keep in mind that there are more guns in America than people and those guns are mostly owned by non-progs, police, and veterans; most of whom DO NOT care for anything prog in nature. If these school yard bullies want to start a real fight, let them.
Yep
Diogenes and Whim, conservatives are not inherently violent, but they are often better trained and better armed. If the bullies want to take that route, they should remember Kyle Rittenhouse. Actions have consequences.
I’m not wishing for that, but I am prepared…
Yep!
“Ray Epps and Kilmar Abrego Garcia in 2028! Only they can save America and make it safe for Democracy.”–Hakeem Jeffries
Just proves the old saying – when you are in a glass house, don’t throw stones.
(While news organizations like NPR described Abrego Garcia as a family man “living quietly” in Maryland, ) Where is the congressional committee inquiring as to just how NPR (and others of such ilk) thought to describe a suspected illegal and human trafficker decided that it was appropriate to describe this thug as a wholesome “Maryland Man” in a gesture meant to deceive and enrage their prog viewers? Most of the problems that we are experiencing in ridding this nation of millions of unwanted, uninvited, criminal invaders stems from the coordination of such entities as “taxpayer-funded” NPR/PBS and the rest of the prog nation.
Shining direct sunlight on the machinations of media/academia/partisan justices would go a long way in dispelling the myth of the “poor struggling assylum-seeking invaders” and cast this entire obama/biden destructive endeavor to demographically alter the nation in favor of their socialist agenda.
They cannot defend the indefensible. This was treason and now the left is making it very difficult to remove even the most heinous criminals. California, especially Los Angeles, is on the brink of outright rebellion against the federal government.
If the hard left’s goal is destabilizing and destroying civilized society, they have achieved many of their goals. These are those who not only lie but love it. They spin a web of deception.
They prey on the kindness and empathy of nice people and exploit this to their advantage. They play the “vulnerable” card and distort truth.
Why do we have a housing shortage? Why does it take 1-2 years to get in to see a medical specialist? Simply dump 15 million people on our doorstep illegally, bypassing the right way to do things. Voilà! You have chaos.
These are dangerous people (the left-wing activists) and should be treated with harsh punishment. They play with people’s lives and have no empathy.
I hate to have to repeat this but…Tail Gunner Joe warned us of this infestation of progressive communists at least 75 years ago and he was summarily shut down by the, then already, compromised media/education industries which were hell-bent on stopping his findings from finding purchase within our society/government. We have no one to blame but the Republican party and conservative – polite – culture that hampered us from dragging out the infested partisans, especially during their use of the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement to expose the true nature of such ruinous legislation as “The Great Society” and hate-speech legislation.
“We have no one to blame but the Republican party and conservative – polite”
Whimsical, I assume you mean Joe McCarthy. Yes, he had flaws, but he was right. The left didn’t just attack him; they rewrote the story. They made him the villain to protect their own. He exposed real communist infiltration, including in government. That’s a fact, not a guess. And the same smear tactics used to destroy him are still being used today against anyone who dares push back.
Why don’t intelligent conservatives understand this?
As of June 7, the only proven lawbreaking is by Pam Bondi and Trump officials subverting the U.S. Constitution and federal law. That’s the only lawbreaking we know for sure!
If Abrego is acquitted, will Pam Bondi reimburse taxpayers for disobeying U.S. Supreme Court rulings? Now that would be an effective deterrent effect against lawbreaking!
Anonymous siding with Abrego while attacking the DOJ is pure Democrat 20-80ism.
Hey tool, did Biden ever reimburse taxpayers for going against the Court on student loans? How about the “eviction moratorium”? How about the open border? How about 20% inflation over 4 years? How about the Dem led BLM riots? How about the 40 million that Mueller spent? How about the millions Jack Smith spent?
Wrong. Perhaps Anonymous is siding with the Constitution and Due Process. Ever heard of that? It is what might save your ass some day when a cop pulls you over and the officials decide you are a threat so they just haul you off, no court, no lawyer, just off you go. Due Process. It matters.
Whew, how mentally warped does one have to be to believe this one?
I would estimate that your qualifications for being a democrat are having a warped mentality to start, add in some street pharma and any time spent at a current university or being a part of the great parasite horde living off of the bloated governement (and that includes all government bureaucrats of any stripe that push the welfare,social justice paperwork)
Anonymous at 9:41 AM: Exactly what U.S. Supreme Court ruling did Attorney General Bondi, or the Trump administration ignore? Was it the one that ruled that the President did not have constitutional authority to cancel college student loan debt? That one? Explain how taxpayers that footed that expense were to be reimbursed.
Biden’s Bolshevik Birthing Boyz – here to demonstrate that they have no idea what words like “proven” and “Constitution” mean.
Speaking of reimbursing taxpayers… when are the commie Boyz going to demand Obama, Biden, and the DNC reimburse Americans for their use of the FBI as their personal STASI during the four years they used their felonious “Trump-Russia Dossier” and fraudulent spy warrants to attempt taking out their political enemies? The fraudulent “Mueller Investigation”?
What if all of those involved in repeatedly perjuring themselves and uttering false documents to Judge Boasberg’s FISA courts were all serving prison sentences for perjury and violating the civil rights of every person whose rights they violated through the use of those perjured spy warrants?
Now that would be an effective deterrent effect against lawbreaking!
For Democrats, the question is not one of guilt. Their loyalists will claim the charges were conjured up while he was in prison.
A weak argument at best, the “thinker-type” Democrats will try to put Trump and his “Gestapo-type” police on co-trial. Sure, the Democrats will give up Abrego, like who cares about that guy, but hopefully will bloody up Trump. So, the DOJ must prepare for simultaneous co-trials, one in the courtroom and the other in the Press.
‘Democrats will try to put Trump and his “Gestapo-type” police on co-trial.’
That cracks me up, that being arrested for crimes actually committed is somehow ‘being disappeared’ by ‘gestapos’ when everyone knows precisely where they are and why.
The sheer idiocy. Sigh.
Wondering if there was a little monetary exchange with the highway patrol officer cause red flags weren’t just waving, they were on fire. They need to talk to Mr. Garcia about that. . .
Possibly, but it’s more likely that the cop was lazy and didn’t want to bother with writing a report. Whatever the reason, his decision should be investigated by the Feds.
I would certainly like to express my thanks to Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) for pointing the spotlight at this gentleman. Now we have the alleged gang member, alleged wife beater and alleged human trafficker in lockup awaiting trial and all because the Senator would not let things alone. This should be a very useful campaign video of the Republicans in the mid terms next year. There is a certain Karma in this case that really should give law abiding citizens some satisfaction. We, of course, should await the trial results since all people should have due process.
There is sort of a war of cliches here that were all violated. Like “don’t turn over the rock”, “let sleeping dogs lie”, “fly under the radar”. The flying under the radar is even more important these days because getting up into the radar realm could have you end up with a missile up your a__.
Lastly, I would suggest that the Tennessee state trouper might need some refresher classes and or training. Seemed very lackadaisical when maybe more resources were needed and some appraisal by superior officers before the suspects were released.
That’s why you’re not a cop or even fathom what t he rules and policies are.
Get back on your time machine old one the 60’s are calling.
If the cop was restrained from following through on obvious signals of criminal activity, perhaps the fault lies in State and local laws that hindered this cops performance of duty. Let’s put the blame where most of this lies, on the shoulders of mealy-mouthed progs who have no notion of loyalty to a nation and constitution, but whose loyalties are to their prog end game and are willing to utilize any means to achieve their goal.
Endurance…you must mean Endurance slow and stupid one.
GEB wrote: “This should be a very useful campaign video of the Republicans in the mid terms next year.”
No doubt true; however, if it just helps the Republican wing of the ‘Uniparty’, then what will have been accomplished?
“awaiting trial and all because the Senator would not let things alone.”
All of that merely solidified Van Hollen’s standing with his idiot voter base. What makes you think that he gives a flying fornication about Garcia, or anything else related to this matter?
Great platform the Democrats have… open borders and legal rights for anyone the gets in the Country, unlimited support for Ukraine, forgiving all student debt, letting criminals roam free, males playing in girls’ sports, climate change extremism.
Meanwhile Sen.Chris Van Hollen (D- Md) spins this as though this was all he wanted when he had the margaritas with Garcia in El Salvador. A fair trial.
Guess the senator’s gonna get a lot more bad publicity than he had banked on.
The standards for Martyred Hero of the People were lowered for all time when the drug addled woman-abusind, counterfeit money-passing ex-convict ascended to his Heavenly Throne
Democrats: The most dangerous political party in America. God Forbade they gain control of this nation ever again.
The chickens have come home to roost 🇺🇸
Think about the tens of thousands of dollars this criminal piece of slime has wasted in our legal system, in addition to the incalculable harm he has done to those he has trafficked.
I agree, it could have gone to trump and his family instead. But hey, at this point with the $ hundreds of millions they are making, ten grand is nothing. So I don’t think your orange god cares about $ thousands at this point, just millions.
Was his beaten wife, who has argued vociferously for his return, not aware of the hundreds of trips he made transporting people? Most wives are aware of their husbands source of income. I’d guess go fund me pays better than human trafficing and involves less beatings!
Welcome to America, where even criminals get free everything.
Be careful what you ask for because you may gete it!
Midterms he should be the Poster Boy for the Democrats.
This is who you fought for?
I want Democrats ARRESTED for helping Illegals!
They are a PARTY OF TREASON!