The Trump administration's handling of the Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia case is cowardly and dishonorable. The same can be said of those who refuse to even try to understand what it's all about.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the government has to try to bring him back so he can defend himself against all the charges and allegations. Basic morality argues for that kind of fairness.
We live in a world where the most basic moral argument gets swamped in a cesspool of lies and gaslighting. I have no intention here of going over the facts of the Abrego Garcia case because they are easily accessible, in journalistic accounts and court decisions, including a 9-0 order from the U.S. Supreme Court directing the government to at least try to bring him back from a brutal El Salvador prison.
For those who do need a refresher, or want to get caught up, there are quite a few links in a Guest Editorial published in The Croton Chronicle, an online newspaper I publish in my Hudson Valley village.
In the past day or two Attorney General Pam Bondi and others in the Trump administration have been pumping out documents they claim are evidence that Abrego Garcia is a criminal, a gang member, a wife beater, and all kinds of other things. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. But that is not the point of the court case that is currently in progress. It is about something much more fundamental.
As the Supreme Court dictated, the legal issue is one of due process, something that is afforded to all persons in the United States, not just citizens. Abrego Garcia was entitled to it, and it has been denied.
That’s the legal issue. The moral issue is much simpler. The U.S. government, sycophants of the Trump administration, and cult followers of Donald Trump, are making all kinds of accusations against the man, but he is not here to defend himself.
That is cowardly, and it is dishonorable. Bring him back and let him answer to whatever charges the courts require. Let him make his case.
Every school child knows that it is unfair to talk about someone behind their back, and especially to make statements that the subject cannot defend themselves against. Sending someone to a brutal jail in a foreign land and throwing away the key is the stuff of tyrants, of Nazis, of fascists. That is the moral and ethical position. How low our leaders have fallen, along with so many of their followers.
Update: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has now denied the government’s motion for an emergency stay of the “facilitate” orders from the Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.
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And isn’t it common practice, when we make a mistake (or administrative error), we correct it? At least that’s what my fourth grade students did.