Killing Kilmar, a(n) (Character) Assassination
A mudslinging campaign that's preparing for the worst.
At first, he was an “administrative error.” Now, he’s a hardened member of MS-13 whose family is better off without him. Why did Trump and his acolytes change their tune? Because the admission of such an egregious error casts doubt on this administration’s entire immigration enforcement operation. Perhaps they suspect or know something terrible has happened to Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. This mudslinging campaign is damage control—an insurance policy in the event Garcia’s fate ever comes to light; or worse, in case he manages to escape and tell his story.
These are the undisputed facts:
Garcia was never charged with a crime
Garcia was in the United States legally via a withholding order
Garcia was denied due process—no hearing, no case, no judge
Garcia was sent to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador known for human rights violations
A Maryland court ordered that the Trump administration facilitate Garcia’s release and return
The Supreme Court upheld this ruling unanimously
The Trump administration has not complied with the court rulings
Everything else is hearsay and inklings and gut feelings. Because this administration cannot dispute any of the above facts, they rely on character assassination instead, cobbling together circumstantial information about “Hispanic gang culture,” you know, hoodies and Bulls hats, and dredging up a domestic dispute from four years ago, grasping at straws to convince the American people that they did good. They got rid of a bad guy.
I don’t care if Garcia is the founder of MS-13. I don’t care if he’s the Fourth Horseman ushering in the apocalypse. He deserved a hearing. Problem is that a hearing would’ve shown he was wrongfully detained to begin with. We wouldn’t want that, would be?
That’s the pesky thing about due process: It has a habit of poking holes in baseless accusations. It’s much easier to circumvent the system entirely and just do whatever you want. Isn’t that always the hallmark of autocracy? This condescending, paternalistic approach to governing that says, “Don’t ask any questions. Let daddy handle it. He knows best.”
Here’s Trump, our Supreme Leader, beyond reproach and above suspicion, responding to a question about Garcia. (Start at 5:18 to hear Trump’s exchange with Kaitlan Collins):
The mere asking of the question, which is the raison d'être of the White House press corps, is an affront because in this New World Order, we can’t ask questions.
Yet, I do have a question for our bronge (bronze and orange, a portmanteau I’m trying to make a thing), 6’3’’ 224-pound Adonis and his entourage of ghouls: “If you’re so sure he’s a gang member who has committed crimes, why not give him a hearing?”
Trump and his cabal of co-conspirators simply don’t care if he’s a gang member or not. They just want to hit detention and deportation targets they set for themselves. Unfortunately for them, there weren’t enough criminal immigrants out there. By casting a wider, indiscriminate dragnet, however, they had a better chance at meeting their quota, unbothered by any “collateral damage”—and by collateral damage I mean the state-sanctioned kidnappings of legal immigrants and the slow-moving assassination of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.