NPR: Abrego Garcia was “Living Quietly” in Maryland Before he was Deported
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Yesterday, I tweeted out after hearing a segment on National Public Radio on the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. NPR reported that there was no evidence presented that Abrego Garcia was an MS-13 member and that “he had been living quietly in Maryland” before he was suddenly arrested and deported. While many disagree on the handling of the case, few would agree that Abrego Garcia who was reported for spousal abuse and suspected of human trafficking was “living quietly in Maryland.”
Anyone listening to the radio program would have been left with an incomplete and distorted account of the case.
The print story used the same language as the radio segment. NPR claimed that Abrego Garcia
“was granted protection by an immigration judge in 2019 that should have prevented his deportation. He had been living quietly in Maryland with his wife and three children and working in construction until Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested and deported him last month.”
I have previously said that I believe the Administration should have returned Abrego Garcia to the United States for a correct and prompt deportation. If he were to be brought back, I cannot see any barrier to Abrego Garcia not only being deported but deported back to El Salvador.
NPR leaves out a couple of facts in its passing reference to his being “granted protection by an immigration judge.” Abrego Garcia already had a hearing at which the judge found evidence that he was an MS-13 member. It was not only based on his being arrested with MS-13 gang members and wearing clothing associated with the gang. It was also based on a confidential source connected to the gang. After losing at his hearing, Abrego Garcia then lost on appeal.
The only reason that Abrego Garcia was not removed is that he said that he was being threatened by a gang that could harm him in El Salvador. That gang, however, reportedly no longer exists.
More importantly, President Trump has declared MS-13 a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which bars the use of the justification for his not being removed. In other words, he has little factual or legal foundation under his original claims to remain in the country.
However, putting the merits aside, NPR’s portrayal of Abrego Garcia was bizarre. He was repeatedly accused of beating his wife . The court record states:
“Per the Prince Georges County Police Gang Unit, ABREGO-Garcia was validated as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) Gang. Subject was identified as a member of the Mara Salvatrucha MS-13, “Chequeo” from the Western Clique a transnational criminal street gang. This information was provided by tested source who has provided truthful accurate information in the past. See Prince Georges County Police Department (Gang Sheet).”
Abrego Garcia was also suspected of human trafficking. Indeed, the description of the stop leaves one astonished that he was allowed to simply drive away. According to DHS:
“On Dec. 1, 2022, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. Upon approach to the vehicle, the encountering officer noted eight other individuals in the vehicle. There was no luggage in the vehicle, leading the encountering officer to suspect this was a human trafficking incident. Additionally, all the passengers gave the same home address as the subject’s home address. During the interview, Abrego Garcia pretended to speak less English than he was capable of and attempted to put the encountering officer off-track by responding to questions with questions. When asked what relationship he had with the registered owner of the vehicle, Abrego Garcia replied that the owner of the vehicle is his boss, and that he worked in construction…
The encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license. Abrego Garcia’s driver’s license was a MD “Limited Term Temporary” license. The encountering officer gathered names of other occupants in the vehicle but could not read their handwriting. The officer did not pursue further information due to no citation being issued.”
So Abrego Garcia, an undocumented immigrant, was stopped with an expired license in a car with eight others and no luggage on a trip from Texas to Maryland. He gave a false statement and the officer suspected human trafficking but let him go.
It is now being reported that the person whom Abrego Garcia described as his “boss” at a construction job was Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, an illegal migrant previously convicted of human smuggling. The black 2001 Chevrolet Suburban belonged to Hernandez Reyez.
One can reasonably object that there was no final adjudication of these claims from spousal abuse to human trafficking to gang membership. However, it strains credulity to claim that Abrego Garcia was living a “quiet” life in Maryland. The complaint of his wife that he was a wife-beater alone would seem to contradict NPR’s claim.
The claim has that certain “ fiery but mostly peaceful ” quality to it . . . except NPR just decided to leave out the “fiery” and the “mostly” parts.
This month I wrote about NPR repeating a false claim that the Supreme Court rejected the claim the government was involved in censorship — despite the express statement of the Court to the contrary.
NPR has long been accused of showing bias in its coverage. It is now facing calls to end the public subsidy for the news outlet.
Tags
Who is online
56 visitors
The NPR story, as Turly points out, is another example of how heavy handed the bias is at progressive news organizations. They are so desperate to be on the progressive side, they paint pictures that are deliberately misleading to its consumers. It explains how so many progressives are so wrong about things. They get fed "mostly peaceful riot" type stories across the board and end up with a severely distorted sense of reality.
As the evidence of Abrego Garcia comes out, my guess is he'll fade into the sunset as Democrats stop talking about him. The "quiet Maryland man" myth generated energy among progressives and allowed them to spin nonsense that their followers parroted. But margaritas with foreign gang members isn't a good look to normal people. Think what we've seen on this site:
That Garcia couldn't be deported. That he had a green card. That Trump made up the MS-13 allegations. That he didn't have any due process. That immigration judges dismissed the allegations of MS-13 membership, that he was just a normal guy etc etc.
Now we know the immigration judges found the gang membership allegations credible and relied on them to deny his bail. He worked for a convicted human trafficker and a police officer documented his suspicions that he caught Abrego in the act of smuggling 8 people across country. His wife claimed he beat her on numerous occasions and the biological father of two of wife's children filed a custody request because she was putting the children at risk by dating him, a gang member.
The man had a valid work permit issued by the Court and reported to Ice as required.
He entered the country illegally and lost any chance for a green card or citizenship because he neglected to report himself in the allotted time.
But he was here legally, employed on a valid work permit.
To deny these things and keep harping on early hearings is disingenuous at best.
Carry on, carrying on, it's amusing but disappointing in America.
Lol. Everything I said was factual. You claim an illegal alien with a valid deportation order was here "legally" and accuse others of disingenuousness. Perfect.
It is amazing. No matter how often some progressive get misled by their "news" sources and end up posting things that are completely false, nothing ever changes and the pattern plays out exactly the same. When their misstatements get exposed, they simply double down and claim the falsehoods they were spouting the day before are "old news" and that everyone needs to move on.
I'm always amazed they never seem to be bothered about being misled and repeatedly fall into the same cycle of posting falsehoods/denial/"move on".
Yes, as many democrats have pointed out, MS13 members that smuggle other people and beat their wives normally "live quietly", no matter where they live. s/
Don't care if he was living quietly, he is an illegal alien and needs to be gone
Most illegals do. Don't want to attract any undue attention..........which isn't undue at all.
I can not fathom why many on the left (even some politicians) chose the people they do to be their hero's.
I just had some landscaping done. The landscaper used immigrant labor, just like nearly every contractor across this country. They are polite, courteous, and they do a fantastic job. You racist hate mongers who see some bright side to deporting the vast majority of our labor force are fucking morons.
Guess what happens if they aren't...........and don't
Never happens. Period. I must have had at least 100 throughout the years, all of them equally perfect laborers. I don’t hire the immigrants, I hire the contractors. The contractors know that immigrant labor is without question the smartest move to get the best quality with the least problems. Again, only a fucking total moron could see a bright side to deporting this amazing resource.
You forgot, it's one hell of a lot cheaper. You know, under-the-table payments and the like. They just increase the contractor's profits.
The most important thing to democrats is maintaining their supply of slave labor to do their field work for them.
That could be true, but if those immigrants are illegal, then the contractors are committing crimes and should be charged for those crimes.'
Hiring illegal aliens is a crime.
Do you think I shop around for the most expensive contractor? Lol. If your deportations dream comes true there simply will be no labor.
Your moronic posts should be a crime.
You call my posts moronic, but show nothing to prove me wrong.
Who is it that posts moronic posts again?
The slaves sure are servile while I exploit them!
It's funny to watch the most of the left's economic theory devolve to "we need to exploit as many people as possible" so my life can be as easy and cheap as possible. Better we break laws and import criminals than a leftist be inconvenienced in any way. The most self centered world view possible.
Speaking of moronic, why would you think any of them feel like slaves? Compared to their lazy, feral American potential competition they are a no brainer for labor. Hell, they even smell nice. Apparently they make enough to keep themselves outfitted with nice cologne. I don’t even do that.
I was comparing your selfish justifications to slave owners. The only thing you care about is your yardwork.
Are the people who work in your fields paid minimum wage? Do they have workers' compensation protection? What taxes are they paying? Are they paid overtime when they go over 40 hours? Do they get their legally required breaks?
Riiiiight. I suppose I should have demanded the work be done by some lazy gen z dropouts, and they be paid six figure salaries with benefits. [deleted][✘]
Sssoooo - why don't you do your own yard work? You might save enough to be able to buy some of that fancy smelling stuff, eh?
I do massive amounts of work on this property, but I also have a job. The wife wanted a big job done that I didn’t have the time for. Believe me, I hate shelling out thousands for something I’m capable of doing myself, but it would’ve taken me weeks and as they say, happy wife happy life.
It does not overrule an existing court order. If the administration wants to undo that court order, under the law, they must do so in court.
It’s not merely “reasonable.” It’s a fact. But even if these claims were true, the court order exists and is the most recent word on the matter. If the administration finds fault with this, they can appeal the matter - again, in court.
All of this debate over whether or not this guy should be deported is a distraction. It’s nothing compared to what has actually occurred. If he had only been deported, that would be its own, relatively minor issue. What should offend every American is that we have sent him to prison. For life. Without a trial.
No. We deported him to his home country, who may have decided to send him to prison. It's not even clear he is in prison.
To the left trump is all powerful and democrats are pathetic victims that can't accomplish anything because of mean old MAGA's.
We are literally paying El Salvador to hold all those guys in their prison. Trump even wants you to know he’s getting a good deal.
We are not paying El Salvador to hold Garcia. As your link points out, we are paying him to hold Venezuelans. Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador and subject to their laws.
You present no probative evidence for this claim. The fact that we are paying El Salvador to hold Venezuelans in no way says anything about whether or not we are also paying them to hold Abrego Garcia.
You don’t have to like my evidence - and I expect that you won’t - but it is at least evidence.
Has Trump Forgotten His Own Power?
Sen. Van Hollen Says Trump Administration Made $15 Million Deal With El Salvador To Imprison Deportees Including Abrego Garcia
I mean if it’s not true, Trump is free to say it’s not true, but why anyone would believe him, is beyond me.
mean if it’s not true, Trump is free to say it’s not true,
That's what the DOJ is arguing in court, that the agreement with Bukele applies to Venezuelans and they've provided nothing to him with regards to deported El Salvadoreans.
So I’m curious. Is all this ok for you so long as we’re not specifically paying to have this one guy kept there? Would that be the single flaw in all of this? The lack of due process is irrelevant? Is there any way at all that this could possibly be a problem for you?
Obviously, he should not have been deported to El Salvador. But he was. If handled correctly, the DOJ should have reopened the withholding order, provided evidence that the reason for Garcia's fear of persecution no longer exists since the gang that supposedly threatened him was destroyed by Bukele, and then deported him to El Salvador after the withholding order was removed.
He's now in El Salvador. If it's pursuant to an agreement to pay Bukele, it means he's still likely under US control. If he's just an El Salvadoran citizen in El Salvador deported like any other El Salvadorian absent the withholding order he's out of the US control. The US has no more control over him than any other deported person once he leaves the country. So now its a question of executive power. The US has no right to custody of Bukele if he's not covered by the agreement. They can only ask Buekele , and Trump claims he already did. For the Court to order more and Trump to follow it would allow a district Judge to intrude in foreign relations. So it becomes a constitutional issue over who controls foreign policy, the president or a district court judge.
The President wants to fight it out on the constitutional issue when he should probably do his best to get him returned, hold the hearing about the gang no longer threatening him, and then deport him right back to El Salvador.
There is no evidence to suggest any of this is the case.
While I agree he should not have been deported to El Salvador, let's not get carried away.
Yes there is. In order:
We sent him to El Salvador to be imprisoned. We are paying them. There is a picture his wife has identified as being him. Representatives from our government have visited him down there.
There is no stated term for his imprisonment. No suggestion that he will ever get out.
And he definitely has not been tried or convicted of a crime attached to that imprisonment.
If he had been merely deported, you could find him just walking the streets in El Salvador - maybe making his way to the US or some other country.
We sent him to El Salvador. He is imprisoned because he has been identified as a member of an organization that El Salvador deems to be a domestic terror group.
Which does not imply that he won't.
That doesn't matter in El Salvador.
Yes, we sent him there by mistake. Yes, it violated US law. Yes, we should be working to get him back and undo the error. But "we sent him to prison for life" is just melodramatic.
I agree it’s dramatic, but it is also factual. We didn’t just drop him off so he was free to wander the streets, and then he just happened to get arrested by El Salvadoran authorities. We arrested him and sent him to El Salvador for the express purpose that he be imprisoned there. In that regard, it’s no different than if we just locked him up in one of our own prisons without trial.
But that would be obviously unconstitutional. And since he would be in an American prison, he would have access to legal counsel, who could fight to get him his day in court. A judge could order him released, and the prison would be obligated to comply.
The administration seems to think the Constitution can be ignored if we just put him in a prison outside our country. The theory is that habeas corpus somehow doesn’t apply outside the US.
I actually don’t want to let Democrats off the hook on this kind of issue. I have the same problems with our prison in Guantanamo Bay (established by Bush, but kept open by Democrats), where we have imprisoned people for over 20 years without trial. To his credit, Obama fought to close the place, and failed, but Biden did basically nothing to close it. It’s an out of sight/out of mind solution that violates what should be some of our most basic ethics.
Progressives continuing to kiss gang banger asses is pathetically shameful