Kilmar Abrego Garcia is Not the Issue

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the issue.

I do not support any tolerance of criminal, illegal aliens in our country. Period.

I do support, however, the rule of law—and the rule of law guarantees everyone in our country, legally or not, the right to due process.

Two hundred thirty-eight people were rounded up by the Trump administration and sent to prison in El Salvador. One of them was Abrego Garcia. None of them was given due process. Someone within the administration—without any burden of proof—determined that 230 human beings in America should be arrested and imprisoned. They were not indicted by grand juries, they were not charged with crimes, and they were not convicted or sentenced by any court.

The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process rights to all person within its jurisdiction, regardless of citizenship status. Note the framers used the word “persons,” not citizens, because they intended the Amendment to apply to everyone.

So who played God in this case? Who decided they had the right to disregard the law? Who determined that these individuals merited prison rather than deportation? Who has decided—if anyone has—what their sentences are? Are they all imprisoned for the same length of time? Are their sentences based on individualized assessments of supposed crimes? We don’t know—because there has been no due process.

In this regard, there are 238 Kilmar Abrego Garcias—not one. The administration has been masterful at obfuscation, shifting the narrative and public attention away from the real issue and onto Garcia himself. Its arguments about lacking jurisdiction to return Garcia are not just legally absurd; they serve a political purpose: to distract from the core issue.

Here is a warning to all of us. You may complacently assume that you are safe because you are a citizen and not a criminal. You are wrong. Your safety has always rested on the guarantee of due process. The administration’s decision to abrogate that guarantee is a Rubicon. Once crossed, no one is safe. They have granted themselves the authority to decide—without trial—who among us can be arrested and imprisoned.