Crisis and Cruelty: Illegal Abductions, Court Defiance, and the Case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

By now, you’ve probably heard the name Kilmar Abrego Garcia. His situation is not unique—he is one of hundreds of migrants who have been rounded up by the Trump administration and sent to a torture prison in El Salvador with no due process. So why is his case attracting so much attention? And why is Donald Trump igniting a full-blown constitutional crisis over it?

The answer is not complicated: Donald Trump does not recognize the authority of the courts or the Constitution to rein in his power. Despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return, the administration repeatedly refused to take action. Trump would rather condemn a father and husband to life in a foreign torture prison than admit that his deportation regime has limits. And he wants to set the stage to be able to do to anyone—including *US citizens*—what he’s just done to Kilmar Abrego Garcia. 

UPDATE: Kilmar has now been returned to the U.S., but not to safety. Instead of being reunited with his family, he’s facing extreme criminal charges, which his legal team argues are politically motivated and intended to justify the administration’s unconstitutional actions after the fact. 

This cannot be the new normal, and the machinery of repression must be dismantled. Kilmar Abrego Garcia deserves justice, not retaliation. Every elected official needs to speak out. This case is about more than one person; it’s about whether we still live in a country where the rule of law applies to everyone—including those in power. 

Let’s be very clear: Donald Trump has initiated an abduction and disappearance system that has been weaponized against immigrants and student activists. His administration has denied its targets due process and legal recourse. This is illegal and terrifying for the communities already under threat, and if we allow it to continue, the list of targets will grow.

  • What Happened?

    • What Happened to Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran immigrant and father of three who has lived in Maryland for over a decade. On March 12, Kilmar was arrested by immigration enforcement officers without a warrant in front of his 5-year-old child with autism. Within three days—with no due process afforded—the Trump administration deported him to a notorious torture prison in El Salvador.

    Kilmar is one of hundreds of Salvadoran immigrants who have been abducted and disappeared in this way since Trump was inaugurated. But his case stands out because of how blatantly illegal the actions of the Trump administration are.

    In 2019, a court ruled that Kilmar could not be deported to El Salvador because of the threats he faced there. That ruling should have given him legal protections against deportation, but the federal agents that detained Kilmar lied and said his legal status had changed. The Trump administration later admitted that his deportation was the result of an administrative error, and court proceedings have since affirmed that he must be returned to the US.

    On April 18, Senator Chris Van Hollen reported Abrego Garcia was moved to a different prison in El Salvador. But his continued incarceration is a violation of US law and the Trump regime's refusal to bring him home to his family is a violation of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling.

    After mounting public pressure, Kilmar was finally brought back to the U.S. on June 6th — but not to freedom. Upon arrival, he was indicted on federal charges and remains in custody. While it is a relief that his family and lawyers can have access to him, he still faces outrageous and politically motivated charges that amount to a conspiracy theory. And the DOJ insists that they intend to send him back to El Salvador after serving a prison sentence here (they are already treating him as guilty). The Trump administration is attempting to reframe his case as criminal while the constitutional violations he endured go unaddressed.

  • Unfolding Constitutional Crisis

    • The Unfolding Constitutional Crisis

    It’s important to be very clear: Donald Trump defied the Supreme Court to keep this man in a foreign prison. 

    On April 10, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision and ordered that the Trump administration must facilitate Kilmar’s return to the U.S. In response, Trump has doubled down. His spokespeople have backtracked on the admissions that the deportation was the result of an administrative error, instead claiming that Kilmar is a terrorist, and the administration has the authority to disappear him without due process. They have even blatantly lied that the Supreme Court ruled in their favor.

    The legal proceedings are still unfolding, and even though Kilmar is now back in the US,  one thing is clear: the administration intends to reject any ruling that instructs them to grant Kilmar due process, no matter which court issues it. This is a constitutional crisis, predicated on an illegal and amoral system of abductions and centered on the case of an innocent man condemned to imprisonment.

    And we know this: If Donald Trump gets away with it, he will not stop there.

  • What is CECOT?

    • What is CECOT?

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia was initially held at CECOT, short for Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo. Hundreds of others, deported without any criminal record, remain there—and Trump is actively sending more people by the planeload. This notorious megaprison in El Salvador is a centerpiece of the carceral regime of President Nayib Bukele. Bukele, a close ally of Trump’s and a self-described dictator, has turned CECOT into a hub for human rights abuses. Inmates are shaved, denied communication with their families and lawyers, and international human rights organizations have reported instances of torture, malnutrition, and isolation. The limited images we have of conditions in the prison are reminiscent of scenes from the Nazi Holocaust—and yet Trump officials and Congressional Republicans have taken to using this backdrop for their twisted photo ops.

    President Trump’s use of CECOT for his deportation program is abhorrent on its own, but it has now functionally allowed him to “disappear” individuals like Kilmar by claiming that they are now in the custody of a foreign government, and therefore outside the jurisdiction of our courts. Bukele has been happy to play along, benefitting from Trump administration payments for the service of receiving and detaining deportees.

    All of this is terrifying, but it’s about to get much worse. Bukele is already planning to expand CECOT to accommodate the administration’s expanding deportations program, and Trump has made it clear he intends to send United States citizens to CECOT. This is plainly illegal, but he’s already defying the legal orders of our courts. If Trump and Bukele get away with the disappearance of Kilmar, they will take it as a green light to move forward with the disappearance of citizens.

  • So What Do We Do?

    • So What Do We Do?

    We need to treat this like the moment of continued crisis that it is. Kilmar Abrego Garcia may be back on U.S. soil, but justice is still out of reach. His prosecution signals a dangerous escalation, transforming unlawful deportation into criminalization and turning legal defiance into a pretext for punishment.

    This is about the infrastructure being built to disappear, detain, and prosecute anyone this regime deems a threat—immigrants, students, organizers, or even citizens. And it’s unfolding alongside alarming moves like the deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, where protesters are being met with federalized military force. We need every single person, elected official and constituent, to be sounding the alarm on this. 

    Here’s our role:

    1. Sound the alarm and Connect the Dots—Kilmar’s case is not isolated. It’s part of a broader playbook of constitutional defiance, militarized suppression, and manufactured criminality. We need to name it, clearly and relentlessly. Tell the world what’s happening and share this story broadly, connecting it to the disappearances of students and immigrants across the country as well as the Insurrection Act.

    2. Pressure your elected officials—Every elected official should already be using their platform to expose and challenge this abuse of power. That includes Democrats and Republicans speaking against not only this case, but the deportations writ large and the open defiance of the court. But that’s not enough. They need to act. That means demanding public hearings, pushing for legal accountability, and blocking the funding and confirmation of those enabling such abuses.

    3. Join public protests—Calling our members of Congress won’t be enough; we know that. As federal troops hit the streets of Los Angeles and deportation raids expand, we must mobilize. Our protests must grow louder, broader, and more urgent—calling not only for Kilmar’s full release but for a complete dismantling of this authoritarian framework around immigration. And we must recommit ourselves loudly and publicly to the principles of nonviolent protest. Both in moral contrast to Trump’s violent impulses, but also as a strategic imperative to prevent handing Trump an excuse to escalate further.

    This is a Living Document

    We’ll keep updating it as the situation unfolds—with clear next steps, ways to plug in, legal resources, and tools to protect vulnerable communities.

    Right now, our job isn’t to panic. It’s to prepare.

    Read more in some of our related resources here. Learn more about the Insurrection Act with our explainer here. And our explainer on Trump’s reckless escalation in LA here.