# Do we know \*WHY\* Kilmar Abrego Garcia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 7, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599 "2025-07-07T17:22:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/1 "2025-07-07T17:22:05Z")
This isn’t intended as a discussion of the details of Mr. Abrego’s case, in terms of what court is deciding what action, etc. I’m interested in knowing if anyone understands _why_ Mr. Abrego was targeted for rendition in the first place, and why the government is _so_ hell-bent on either shipping him out of the country or prosecuting him to the fullest. As to the first question, I truly have no idea. I haven’t heard anything in any reporting to indicate that, until his rendition, he was anything but a run-of-the-mill undocumented immigrant. Yes, I know that we have now heard about his, “gang affiliation,” and his, “human trafficking,” but that all feels very _ex post facto._ (But, I will stipulate that if true it would explain why the government took notice of him) Do we know anything about how or why he showed up on the government’s radar at all? As to the second question, I assume that at this point the government is sufficiently embarrassed and aware of public opinion that it _must_ prove what a monstrously dangerous human being Mr. Abrego is in order to maintain an aura of legitimacy in terms of deportations and disappearances. Do we know if there is anything else at work? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/2 "2025-07-07T17:26:42Z")
I presume inertia and incompetence - he was swept up in the initial raids, without due process and a real check of his actual status, and he just happened to be the first to get good legal assistance. And because his case has become high profile, the liars in charge are doubling down because they see his case as a danger to their authority. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/3 "2025-07-07T17:26:54Z")
**Moderating:** In the future, please provide some sort of useful link to the person’s story. > **[Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Kilmar_Abrego_Garcia)** > > Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia\[a\]\[b\] is a citizen of El Salvador whom the Trump administration illegally deported on March 15, 2025 in what it called "an administrative error", and had imprisoned without trial in the Salvadoran maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), despite his never having been charged with nor convicted of a crime in either country at the time. His case became the most prominent of hundreds of people the United States sent to be jailed witho The administration... ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/4 "2025-07-07T17:29:46Z")
Apologies - I thought it was publicized enough as to be common knowledge. I will keep this in mind for future posts. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/5 "2025-07-07T17:38:34Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I presume inertia and incompetence - he was swept up in the initial raids, without due process and a real check of his actual status, and he just happened to be the first to get good legal assistance. Yes, it’s the First factor. One of the first to get taken, and then the spectacularly incompetent action of deporting him to the _one place_ the courts had said he _couldn’t_ be deported to. And then the early lack of coordination of the MAGA messaging, where they admitted he’d been deported by accident, before they decided the story was supposed to be that he was the worst person in history. It’s the classic tale - if they’d just admitted their mistake, and fixed it, the story would have died months ago. But they’re just incapable of admitting error, so they have to keep pushing their narrative in which he’s the bad guy, and deserves everything he’s getting. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/6 "2025-07-07T17:48:11Z")
Have you read the DHS release? [https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2025/25\_0418\_hsi\_referral-abrego-garcia.pdf](https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2025/25_0418_hsi_referral-abrego-garcia.pdf) > [@](#): > > Yes, I know that we have now heard about his, “gang affiliation,” and his, “human trafficking,” but that all feels very _ex post facto._ It’s not ex post facto since it came before and directly lead to his deportation. A judge tried to prevent the deportation, but the administration did it anyway and claimed “sorry, that was an accident”. But “accident” and “administrative error” doesn’t mean there was no cause for deportation. That’s the administration’s excuse for going against the judge’s order. That was the “error”. This guy was an undocumented immigrant, human trafficker and gang member. He was caught in the act and scheduled for deportation. A judge tried to delay it in order to allow for a trial, but “due to an administrative error” the administration deported him anyway. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/7 "2025-07-07T17:53:35Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > One of the first to get taken, and then the spectacularly incompetent action of deporting him to the _one place_ the courts had said he _couldn’t_ be deported to. I expect that was a case of “You can’t tell me what to do!!!” from the Toddler-In-Chief. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/8 "2025-07-07T17:56:08Z")
Combined with “Republican Double Down Disease”. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/9 "2025-07-07T17:57:51Z")
Why would anyone trust any accusations by this administration that haven’t been proven in a court of law? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/10 "2025-07-07T18:06:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Why would anyone trust any accusations by this administration that haven’t been proven in a court My point is just that the accusations came before the deportation, not after. His deportation was not an administrative error. Going against the judge was the claimed error, not the deportation itself. They knew full well what they were doing when they deported him. It’s an important distinction that seems lost on many. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/11 "2025-07-07T18:15:18Z")
I’m guessing that he was just one of a very large number of immigrants who didn’t do anything in particular, and that the only difference in his case was that he had the resources to at least attempt to fight back. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/12 "2025-07-07T18:27:32Z")
IIRC the “human trafficer” and “gang member” crap came after the administration was called to task for deporting him in the first place. Even if they were true the lack of due process overrides any other excuses it might come up with. I swear it’s like standing over a five-year old refusing to eat his lima beans. > **[Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia | False and misleading information](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Kilmar_Abrego_Garcia#False_and_misleading_information)** > > A number of news organizations have stated that members of the Trump administration have lied and misrepresented facts and the law to the public regarding Abrego Garcia's deportation and detention. > The Austin American-Statesman found JD Vance's claim that Abrego Garcia was a "convicted MS-13 gang member" to be false because Garcia has neither been charged nor convicted of any crime. > The New Republic said that JD Vance lied in calling Abrego Garcia a gang member and insisting that he could not b... ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/13 "2025-07-07T18:33:34Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > . His deportation was not an administrative error. Going against the judge was the claimed error, not the deportation itself. I don’t know if I believe any of the gang/human trafficking allegations ( which date back to 2022, and he wasn’t arrested for those alleged crimes until he was returned to the US) - but regardless of that, the immigration judge’s order only prohibited him from being deported to El Salvador. It didn’t prohibit him from being deported at all. In fact, if I understand correctly, in order for withholding of removal to be granted, there must be a deportation order. Which is possibly one of the worst things about this case - if they hadn’t been rushing to get people to El Salvador, perhaps someone would have noticed and they wouldn’t have gotten into this mess of their own making . Or maybe that was the point - I’m sure they were quite surprised when the Supreme Court decision didn’t say “Oh, you made a mistake,it’s too bad you can’t get him back now” ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/14 "2025-07-07T19:13:20Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > This guy was an undocumented immigrant, human trafficker and gang member. Is there evidence of that, in particular of the second two, other than the current administration’s sayso? Because a great deal of what I’ve read says there’s no proof whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/15 "2025-07-08T01:35:19Z")
Reading What\_Exit’s [link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Kilmar_Abrego_Garcia#Background): It sounds like he was arrested and held on charges of being an MS-13 gang member back in 2019, but there there wasn’t any significant evidence to support it (he had tattoos, wore a bulls hoodie, an an unreliable informant accused him of running a gang in New York despite spending all his time in Maryland) and he was never charged. ICE was getting ready to deport him when he applied for asylum. The judged ruled that it was too late for him to get asylum but granted that he shouldn’t be sent to El Salvador. As for the human trafficking, he got pulled over for speeding by a cop while driving some people from Maryland to Texas for a construction job. They didn’t have any luggage, so the cop thought he was probably a human trafficker. He called ICE, they didn’t care, and that was that. As I recall the MS13 charge was made by the DOJ immediately after the judge tried to get him back, so it known to them and was probably the reason he was originally targeted for deportation, but the whole human trafficking thing was didn’t come up until much later when it was decided to make him the worst of the worst. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/16 "2025-07-08T01:42:16Z")
[The Washington Post says](https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/07/kilmar-abrego-garcia-court-case/) , > A Justice Department lawyer said in federal court in Maryland on Monday [July 7, 2025] that the Trump administration plans to again deport Kilmar Abrego García, this time to a country other than El Salvador, without waiting for the outcome of federal human smuggling charges against him in Tennessee should a judge there order him released pending trial. _If_ he really was guilty of the human trafficking charge (that he brought _thousands_ of people to the United States), why the rush to just deport him? Doesn’t that mean he would get away with his crimes? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/17 "2025-07-08T16:31:28Z")
Trump saw a picture of his knuckles with MS13 on them and decided his guilt. It’s up to everyone else to do whatever it takes to make sure he stays behind bars. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/18 "2025-07-08T16:35:54Z")
Wasn’t that picture doctored up in Photoshop? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/19 "2025-07-08T16:54:06Z")
Not according to trump. Did you see [the Terry Moran interview](https://youtu.be/GBwCUPttprw?t=1269)? He gets pissed because Moran is doubting him. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2025, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599/20 "2025-07-08T17:37:22Z")
Should be easy enough to prove. Isn’t he somewhere that his hands could be examined? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-know-why-kilmar-abrego-garcia/1020599.md?page=2)