CASA Demands Justice For Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia

[struggle4progress]

“CASA is outraged that ICE deported CASA member Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in violation of a court order and at grave personal danger. In 2019, a judge issued an order prohibiting the government from deporting Kilmar to El Salvador based on the risk of persecution Kilmar would confront if returned to El Salvador. That order still stands. Yet, in an act that they now refer to as an “administrative error”, ICE ignored that court order, and disappeared him into a notorious Salvadoran prison. Kilmar joined three planeloads of deportees; many of whom – like Kilmar – have never been charged with a crime.

Kilmar’s family in Maryland—his wife, their five-year-old child, and his two stepchildren, are all U.S. citizens, and they are desperate for his safety. Together, they have built a strong, supportive family with bright hopes for the future. At the time he disappeared, Kilmar was a unionized sheet metal worker actively pursuing career advancement by enrolling in a college course to obtain a professional license. Meanwhile, the family was also on a waiting list at Children’s Hospital, seeking specialized care for their autistic, non-verbal son. His sudden disappearance has left them in anguish, disrupting their plans and jeopardizing their well-being ...

We at CASA are outraged. ICE ripped Kilmar away from his family. He has never been found guilty – in the US or in El Salvador – of having committed a crime. ICE admits they deported him against a court order. Yet, ICE insists that the court cannot tell them to bring him back. ICE needs to return him safely to the United States. They are paying for his imprisonment in El Salvador and are maximizing their close ties to Salvadoran leadership to expel many men – without due process – to El Salvador. ICE needs to bring Kilmar home to Maryland, immediately.

While we are particularly concerned about Kilmar’s safety and the trauma his family is experiencing, it is important to understand this case in the context of the push ICE has made on Maryland legislators to permit their open access to Maryland sensitive locations, databases, and correctional facilities. ICE representatives have bragged about all of the “dangerous people” they are targeting for deportation. Kilmar’s case – the case of a family man with no evidence of being a “danger”, rapidly deported to the very country that a judge ordered that he not be deported – proves that ICE is not to be trusted.

This is why CASA has been fighting to pass House Bill 1222 – the Maryland Values Act – currently before the Maryland General Assembly. This legislation would end 287(g) agreements that allow local law enforcement to act as immigration agents ...

https://wearecasa.org/casa-demands-justice-for-kilmar-armando-abrego-garcia/