Summary

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) traveled to El Salvador to seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident wrongfully deported in March.

Abrego Garcia, married to a U.S. citizen with three children, was legally allowed to stay under a 2019 court order.

The Trump administration admitted his deportation was an “administrative error” but refused his return. The Supreme Court ruled against the administration 9-0.

In response, the White House launched a smear campaign against Van Hollen, framing Garcia as a gang member despite no charges or convictions.

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[–] 291 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Van Hollen did the right thing and it should be recognized. It's time to stand up to this fucking regime in any way we can.

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  • [–] 94 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    He had to know this was going to happen.

    I'm just amazed at how incredibly ballsy it is for him to go down there knowing that doing so is basically kicking a hornet's nest of entitled fascists that have already defined themselves by ignoring orders from the court.

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  • [–] 45 points 1 year ago

    He's just doing his job, and honoring the oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution. And for that we should applaud him, when many others have failed to do their jobs and uphold their oath.

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    [–] 122 points 1 year ago

    If Trump is dissing somebody, that’s a good indicator they’re alright.

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  • [–] 119 points 1 year ago (41 children)

    A court has demanded the Trump admin return this man, and their defense has been that they don't have the power to do it. Now they publicly criticize a Senator for trying to get the man returned.

    They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren't they?

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  • [–] 93 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    They really are stupid when it comes to undermining their own case, aren’t they?

    No, they are not. It's a mistake to think of them as stupid, as that leads to underestimating the threat they pose.

    They don't care about winning this case in the conventional sense. Trump and his allies couldn't care less what happens to Kilmar Abrego Garcia; what they're after is the power to exile or imprison people without due process of law.

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    To be fair, Trump really is pretty stupid. His handlers aren't.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago

    They are stupid. It's required for fascism to fascist.

    It's because they are stupid it makes them dangerous. They will say "NO I AM RIGHT!" when the obvious answer sits in front of them.

    They JUST DON'T CARE.

    Don't give them credit for a "well thought our plan." This regime will destroy itself, with or without resistance. Look at Putin's Russia. When he dies, there will be a massive power struggle and no one knows what the fuck will happen.

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    [–] 77 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The reaction of these people to a senator traveling to another country to try to correct their admitted mistake is fucking disgusting.

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  • [+] 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    We have been. You may have heard of the 50501 protests. If not, I recommend looking into it. There are two problems though. First, the corporate media is largely not covering the protests because they haven't turned into riots. As the adage goes, "if it bleeds, it leads". Second, Americans are generally not inclined to riot, because our police are more heavily armed than a lot of military forces around the world. When we do riot, the corporate media clutches their pearls and wags their fingers, painting the entire movement as a bunch of criminals looking for a reason to loot. This influences even our most ardent allies in Congress to distance themselves from the movement, resulting in little to no change in policies.

    Honestly, it's going to take a lot more than protests and even riots to get out of this, if it's even possible.

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    [–] 57 points 1 year ago (17 children)

    IF Van Hollen manages to return safely, he'll have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his entire life.

    But I'm not convinced he's going to come back.

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  • [–] 64 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    We're not at the stage where sitting senators are being murdered or disappeared.

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  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago*

    I hope you're not wrong, but political opposition was disappeared very quickly in Nazi Germany. It really didn't take long: Hitler was appointed chancellor on January 30th, 1933 and the first "dissidents" were disappeared the day after the Reichtagsbrand, so February 28th, 1933.

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That might be it, actually. He’s probably called Bukele and told him nothing will happen if he arrests and imprisons a sitting US congressman from the “opposition” party. I’m calling that out as the plan now.

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  • [–] 54 points 1 year ago*

    The White House also brought Morin’s mother to Leavitt’s press conference today, while launching into a tirade against Abrego Garcia

    Wow, that mother must be a real proud Mamma Hen, using her daughters death to politically justify abducting a human without convictions who was in Maryland legally. What a fucking disgrace.

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  • [–] 51 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    If there's anything I've learned about Leon, Trump, and the other neofascists we're bombarded with--it's that they really really don't like anyone questioning or disagreeing with them. It's telling, because if they truly were confident in their words and deeds, they would have nothing to fear. Someone questioning them should be a chance for them to educate everyone on the reasons why their ideas are good... but instead it goes directly to ad hominems, bans/removals, etc. They want to think they're brilliant, but they also don't want to be questioned since they don't want to risk getting dunked on in the public arena and lose credibility (but they also really don't want to be faced with facts proving them wrong, their tremendous ego can't handle it)

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  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago

    That's because fascism relies on the "Mythic Truth."

    Their "Truth" supersedes reality. Most of the time they don't give two shits about evidence. What they can't stand is being told "no" or "shut up you're being an asshole" or "fine, if you won't do the right thing, I will."

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    [+] 51 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)
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    [–] 39 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    The family should be sueing the fuck out of every member of government for defamation. Get as much money from them while you can.

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    [–] 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    Make no mistake. Last time Trump got legitimately "thrown out of his palace" he called upon an army of insurrectionists to storm the capitol.

    Now he's back in there, surrounded by yes-men, and his insurrectionist army is pardoned and with boosted confidence that they can spread chaos without consequences. And by being POTUS many of his armed forces supporters have the "following orders" and "his elected authority" excuse to side with him against the remaining government branches and the people - even if their oath is to the constitution.

    Whatever enforcement entity SCOTUS can get to impose actual consequences to this administration's wrongdoing on April 23rd, if it comes to it, Trump won't take it lying down. That's a guarantee with these savages.

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    [–] 33 points 1 year ago

    Jesus fucking Christ the people that write titles like this should all be rounded up and kept at least 1,000 feet from any place they could practice whatever this slop is they consider 'journalism.' The admin put out a few press conferences and encouraged people to make memes. "Scorched Earth" my dead grandfather's rotten scrotum.

    Also, that poor man is already dead and has been for a while now.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    I kind of assume they are so adamant of not returning this guy, cause they can't find him in their death camp. He might have been killed already.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago

    That is what I've been thinking. Guy has been dead from almost day one, and in fact that is likely the point of these prison camps.

    They want to be able to disappear people, and it's a lot more effort and money to keep them alive. El Salvador is just an off site extermination facility, and they are playing "Well, we can't bring him back" cause they won't admit what they have done.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Sadly the injustice done to this man and the 70% to 90% of the people deported without having committed a crime is just a distraction while they plan their next financial rug pull.

    The rot really has reached the core.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Any American citizen is now just lucky to not run across an ICE agent having a bad day and being sent to prison for life with no trial or rights, which we were supposed to hold self evident. This isn't America anymore. We need to take MAGA and beat it down until it's MANA, Make America Normal Again.

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    If only there had been some way to prevent this but honestly, who hasn't accidentally misplaced a living human being in an El Salvador torture prison once or twice? Glass houses, stones, all that.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    Another post suggested calling him with support. Googled him last night and left a message. Took one minute.

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago

    My money is that they're currently torturing him on the daily to send a message with his body when they eventually follow the courts order. They're prepping the narrative with their supporters and making him an unreliable testifier for his own trauma.

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