This is likely to be my last post of the week, and it’s a depressingly fitting one this Fourth of July. Although we may have much to celebrate in our own lives, we all recognize that our country is in great danger. Donald Trump is trampling on the Constitution, and the Republican-led Congress and Supreme Court are doing nothing to slow him down.
So today I want to make sure you’ve seen this story about Kilmar Ábrego García, one of the better known victims of Trump’s persecution of undocumented immigrants. Earlier this year, Ábrego García, of Maryland, charged with no crime other than living in the U.S. without the proper papers, was illegally shipped off to a prison in El Salvador. He’s back, at least for now, and his lawyers filed chilling documents on Wednesday alleging that he was tortured while in Salvadoran custody. Maanvi Singh reports for The Guardian:
While being held at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) in El Salvador, Ábrego García and 20 other men “were forced to kneel from approximately 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM”, according to the court papers filed by his lawyers in the federal district court in Maryland.
Guards struck anyone who fell from exhaustion while kneeling, and during that time, “Ábrego García was denied bathroom access and soiled himself”, according to the filing.
Detainees were held in an overcrowded cell with no windows, and bright lights on 24 hours a day. They were confined to metal bunk beds with no mattresses.
Ábrego García is back in the U.S., and now federal prosecutors are charging him with human smuggling and being a member of the MS-13 gang. We’ll see if there’s any actual evidence; the case has all the hallmarks of a story that the Trump regime concocted after the fact.
But why should we take seriously Trump’s alleged desire to crack down on MS-13? On Monday, a team of six New York Times reporters revealed (gift link) that Trump had returned a notorious MS-13 killer and other gang members to El Salvador who are allies of that country’s thuggish president, Nayib Bukele. The transfer appears to be a quid pro quo for Bukele’s willingness to accept U.S. deportees.
I hope there will come a time when Trump and everyone associated with his brutal reign is held to account, perhaps by the International Court of Justice. In the meantime, we have to live through this and do what we can to call out their shocking behavior and engage in acts of resistance. For what it’s worth, I write.
May you, your families and friends have a wonderful Independence Day. There will be better times ahead.