#ShareTheirStories, June updates

Mahmoud Khalil, one of the first people arrested under the administration’s ICE raids. He was targeted because of his outspoken views on Palestinian rights. He is a legal green card holder and was never charged with a crime. Nevertheless the administrations flew him to a holding cell in Louisiana (from NY) in a particularly cruel move that prevented him from being present at the birth of his first child. Even after the baby was born, the government tried to put up roadblocks for his family to visit him and for him to touch his newborn son. He has now been freed by court order but US government is still trying to deport him. He has vowed that he will not be quiet and has already been seen at protests. He is a profile in courage.

Kilmar Albrego Garcia is another case entirely. The eyes of the government have turned his way and now that this has happened, they are doubling down on their cruelty. Just think for a moment of what it is for the government which the power of law enforcement, the powers of detainment to focus their sights on one person. He was originally deported to El Salvador in March. After the government ignored court orders for months he was finally brought back to the US to face federal charges. It is likely this was a face-saving move on the part of the government so they could say, “see he’s a bad guy who deserves this, look at these horrible criminal charges.”

We can see this in that he’s had his first court hearing on these new charges and the judge (Barbara Holmes) has already found numerous errors and unlikely “facts” presented by the government. In her findings Judge Holmes noted that one of the witnesses was living in the U.S. illegally with a criminal record and is now getting preferred status for this testimony. According to the testimony, Abrego Garcia is charged with driving rom Maryland to Houston — a 1,400-mile trip taking about 24 hours — two or three times per week, in an attempt to smuggle or traffic others. (I don’t know if the government was even clear about which of these was being charged.) Holmes noted that this would “approach physical impossibility.”

Judge Holmes ordered him released pending trial. But the government, to extend this charade, has already announced that once he is freed from jail he will be detained by ICE pending another deportation. In other words, he is being dumped into another legal system and has to start all over with that one. As we’ve previously noted, our court system is not up to the task of dealing with this administration on many levels. They are playing prison-roulette and the courts are giving their imprimatur to this clearly performative act. It is a complete breakdown of systems.

Andry José Hernández Romero, A gay make-up artist who was deported to El Salvador is still at CECOT. To support his petition for release, click here.

Merwil Gutiérrez, a teen-ager, arrested in NY in a case of mistaken identity was also whisked off to CECOT in El Salvador. He is still there.

The three deported immigrants were taken in an operation that was illegal at the time as there were court orders that were in place to prevent deportation. Now, our Supreme Court in an unreasoned decision has retroactively made this legal by giving permission to the administration to send deportees to any country who will have them, no matter how unstable or unsafe. Our court system is not up to the task. Thank you to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for calling out her colleagues on thee Court for their actions.

Then there is the brouhaha where Senator Alex Padilla of CA, tried to ask a question to Kristi Noem in his home state. He was tackled to the ground and handcuffed. When VP Vance was discussing the scene, he referred to Sen. Padilla as José Padilla. These people are not even trying to hide their racism!

Notice the three deportees all have Hispanic names. Mahmoud is an Arabic name. All foreign sounding. This makes it easy to de-humanize them, to “otherize” them, to make them seem like criminals and those who are deserving of the actions of ICE.

The administration, those who already hold the keys of power are using other human beings to increase their own power and in doing so are creating unimaginable suffering.

Andrew Young once said, “Nothing is illegal if one hundred businessmen decide to do it.” It is a stunning quote that reveals the limits of human codified law. In this administration, we can easily say that their motto is, “Nothing is legal if we chose for it not to be.” This philosophy is being echoed in the Supreme Court now.

It is Khalil who reminded us of the work of Hannah Arendt who asked the poignant question,
“Who has the right to have rights.”

Please spread the word and where you can, right letters of support. If you haven’t already please sign Amnesty International’s petition for Andry José Hernández Romero