The Trump administration deported multiple planeloads of suspected terrorists to El Salvador on March 15 to be imprisoned in the southern nation’s Terrorism Confinement Center. Attorneys for the government confirmed in a Monday court filing that one of the illegal aliens sent packing was removed “because of an administrative error.”
An article in the Atlantic concerning the accidental deportation apparently left certain bleeding-heart liberals with the impression that the deportee was an “innocent father” betrayed by his adoptive government.
Vice President JD Vance rained on liberal critics’ grief parade, pointing out they were rending garments over the deportation of a foreign national found by more than one immigration court to be a “danger to the community” and a member of the terrorist organization Mara Salvatrucha.
Vance’s suggestion that it was imprudent to throw a conniption over Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s ouster prompted the critics to rage even more.
Background
After stealing into the U.S. illegally and without inspection in 2011, Salvadoran national Abrego Garcia traveled to Maryland, where his older brother lived.
Justice Department attorneys indicated that in March 2019, Abrego Garcia was summoned to appear in removal proceedings. During a bond hearing, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that a confidential informant flagged Abrego Garcia as an active member of MS-13. The illegal alien’s bond was denied with the court reportedly finding “that Abrego Garcia was a danger to the community.”
‘The Respondent is a gang member, and the Respondent has failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion.’
Abrego Garcia appealed that decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals, where an immigration judge determined in April 2019 that “the determination that the Respondent is a gang member appears to be trustworthy and is supported by other evidence in the record.”
“The fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of information’ verified the Respondent’s gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member, and the Respondent has failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion,” wrote the judge, adding that Abrego Garcia was a flight risk.
Lawyers for Abrego Garcia claim that the gang label is false; however, Justice Department attorneys underscored Monday that “Abrego Garcia is barred from disputing that, as a member of the criminal gang MS-13, he is a danger to the community.”
Although Abrego Garcia was found removable, he successfully secured a form of relief called withholding of removal in October 2019. The immigration judge responsible apparently agreed that Abrego Garcia had adequately established he would face persecution by Salvadoran gangs back home upon his return.
Unlike asylum, a foreign national granted withholding of removal is denied a path to citizenship, cannot petition to bring family members into the country, and cannot leave the country with an expectation of readmission. The American Immigration Council noted that unlike asylum, this form of relief also does not provide a recipient with a path to permanent residence or with permanent protection.
In their complaint demanding that the Trump administration ask El Salvador for Abrego Garcia’s return, lawyers for the illegal alien alleged that on March 12, ICE officers in Baltimore notified Abrego Garcia that his “status has changed” then arrested him.
Government attorneys indicated that after his detention, Abrego Garcia was questioned about his gang affiliations, transferred to a detention center in Texas, then, “because of an administrative error,” removed to El Salvador.
The Trump administration has argued that American courts lack jurisdiction to order Abrego Garcia’s return back from El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
White knights
Just as liberals rushed to bemoan the Trump administration’s plan to deport Jeanette Vizguerra, a Mexican fugitive who stole into the U.S. illegally and was criminally convicted for using fake documents, they saw in Abrego Garcia another lost cause worth championing.
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau shared a link to the Atlantic article on X, writing, “Any comment on this, @marcorubio? How about you, @JDVance? @elonmusk? You just admitted to accidentally sending an innocent father from Maryland to a torture dungeon in El Salvador. And you refuse to do anything about it.”
Favreau said in a subsequent tweet, “This is f***ing monstrous.”
‘The entire American media is going to run a propaganda operation today.’
Vance responded, “My comment is that according to the court document you apparently didn’t read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here.”
“My further comment,” continued the vice president, “is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize.”
This tweet prickled Favreau, Bill Kristol, Keith Olbermann, Politico’s Kyle Cheney, and other Trump administration critics.
Kristol, celebrant of Syria’s new Islamist rulers, claimed that Vance’s comment “is a lie.”
Kyle Cheney seized upon Vance’s wording that Abrego Garcia was a “convicted” gang member, noting, “The court filing does not say that. It says he was denied bond in 2019 over an informant’s claim he was in MS-13. That’s not a conviction.”
“Kyle Cheney, a ‘legal affairs reporter’ is apparently unable or unwilling to look at the facts here,” wrote Vance. “In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the first Trump administration) determined that the deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang. He also apparently had multiple traffic violations for which he failed to appear in court. A real winner.”
“It is telling that the entire American media is going to run a propaganda operation today making you think an innocent ‘father of 3’ was apprehended by a gulag,” wrote Vance.
‘He should be locked up.’
The vice president, sharing screenshots of the relevant court documents, noted further that: “1) The man is an illegal immigrant with no right to be in our country. 2) An immigration judge determined he was a member of the MS-13 gang. 3) Because he is not a citizen, he does not get a full jury trial by peers. In other words, whatever ‘due process’ he was entitled to, he received.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told NBC News in a statement Tuesday that Abrego Garcia “is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang — we have intelligence reports that he is involved in human trafficking.”
“Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he should be locked up,” added the spokesperson. “Remarkable that The Atlantic and other MSM continue to do the bidding of these vicious gangs and ignore their victims.”
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Jd vance, Vance, Illegal immigration, Illegal alien, Deportation, El salvador, Abrego garcia, Ms-13, Terrorism, Gang, Terrorist, Jon favreau, Politics
