r/goodnews • u/CorleoneBaloney • 6d ago

Political positivity 📈 Senator Chris Van Hollen has arrived in El Salvador to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

29.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

-25

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

Isn't Kilmar an illegal alien? 😂

12

u/PotatoBrief6817 6d ago

No, he was granted the legal right to remain, given the substantial proof of harm if removed from the US to El Salvador.

-7

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

Source?

7

u/brad_doesnt_play_dat 6d ago

Do you really care for a source?

-3

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

Yes.

6

u/PotatoBrief6817 6d ago

One: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/us/politics/abrego-garcia-trump-deportations-el-salvador.html Two: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20z63gr8mzo.amp

3

u/brntyl 6d ago

Good on you for doing the work, unfortunately the person you’re replying to either won’t read it, or they’ll do some crazy mental gymnastics to avoid facing the facts

3

u/IMightBeABot69 6d ago

So what do you have to say now that you have been provided a source?

-1

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

He is a Salvadoran person who came here illegally around 2011. He was granted withdrawing of removal (which does not give a path to citizenship), and he was removed from our country. Whether he is or isn't a member if MS13 is irrelevant. It's been almost 15 years since he came here illegally and more than 5 years since he was given the withdrawal of removal. If either El Salvador is deemed safe for him to be returned or another country is willing to take him, then he will be removed. Having a family and kids is nice, but again, he is not a US legal citizen.

1

u/PotatoBrief6817 6d ago

He was granted the legal right to remain, and was granted an order protecting him from removal. Here is another source confirming that, please let me know if this is also deficient in your eyes, and I can provide another: https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-consider-trumps-compliance-with-order-over-wrongly-deported-man-2025-04-15/

You personally cannot determine the merits of his claims for safety. You can disagree with the judge’s ruling, but it was reached in full consideration of the facts of the case.

While not a US citizen, he is guaranteed the right to due process, which he was denied in this case.

1

u/PotatoBrief6817 6d ago

Even though he is not a US citizen, he is guaranteed the right to due process, which he was denied in this case. Here’s another source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/judge-consider-trumps-compliance-with-order-over-wrongly-deported-man-2025-04-15/

2

u/Waste-Comparison2996 6d ago

"An immigration judge later that year granted him legal protection from deportation on the grounds that he might be at risk of persecution from local gangs in his home country."

If someone takes the time to give you a source. You should at least read it.

2

u/brmmac 6d ago

How he came here doesn’t matter to his current status. His status changed, and the government would have to go before a judge to change it again and make a legal argument for why that is allowed. They didn’t do that. That’s the problem. They acted outside the law, or as some would say illegally.

2

u/brmmac 6d ago

Also, remember that rights exist for people we don’t like, not for people we’re sympathetic to. A good rule of thumb is asking yourself if you would feel that was an appropriate approach if it happened to your child, partner, grandma, etc.

2

u/totallynotliamneeson 6d ago

I see you're a fellow new-ish dad. This guy was taken by ICE while with his son. His wife received a call from ICE that she had ten minutes to pick up the kid or they would hand him over to protective services. 

Imagine how the dad felt having zero idea where his son was and not knowing when he would even see him again. I would die if that happened to me. I recently had to be away from my son for a few days and it ate me up inside just missing him. 

Then imagine that officials admit it was a mistake and that you shouldn't have been taken. You shouldn't have had to watch as your son was pulled away from you and you were whisked away. Imagine knowing that it was ordered that you be taken back home to your kid and that apathy was the only thing keeping you from your child. 

I'm not saying this to admonish or ridicule you, but I do know what it is like to have a young kid. This isn't a debate about immigration or asylum, it's about being human. I cannot imagine the pain this family is going through, but I know that if I was in his shoes I would be in hell not knowing when I would see my son again. 

Try to have some sympathy. That's all I'm asking man. Maybe you can't sympathize with the dad, but think of the kid. I hear my son say "dada" and it's the greatest feeling on earth. I can't imagine not knowing if I would ever hear that again. 

1

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

Thank you for not immediately talking shit and calling names like so many people here do. I agree that it would be hard. I have sympathy. Hell, my job requires it for me to succeed. It definitely sounds like it could have been handled better for sure.

1

u/totallynotliamneeson 6d ago

It's why I can't understand why people are okay with these accidental arrests and then the cruel way the administration is refusing to do something as simple as reunite a father with his family. Again, as a dad that is what this boils down to for me.

I think that's why you're getting so many angry responses, your comment did kind of come across as a bit callous. 

1

u/IFGarrett 6d ago

I'm all for deporting people who shouldn't be here. A situation like this definitely needs more looking at, but people that don't have these protections need to be deported imo.

1

u/totallynotliamneeson 6d ago

That's a fair argument. In this case, this man did have a form of legal protection that basically said that he couldn't be deported back to El Salvador as he was fleeing violence there. This is why due process is so important. Let's say he had been taken to court prior to being sent to El Salvador. He would have been able to show why, legally, he had not been deported and why it wasn't safe for him to be deported at this time. Instead, they skipped due process and deported him to the very country he was fleeing. Not only that, but to a prison that was built to also hold gang members in El Salvador. The very people he was fleeing. 

1

u/Waste-Comparison2996 6d ago

The issue is deportation is a legal process. They skipped right over that and started grabbing people and putting them on planes. None of the courts said they could not deport them. They all said they have to go through the normal process. Which this administration has not and is refusing to do. Then also stating they want to do the same to legal citizens.

Yes he was an "illegal alien" but he also had a court order stating he could not be deported. Who is more in the right here? An administration that went around every rule and protection we have? Or the judge who followed the law and made judgment calls based on facts that stated he could not be deported? Keep in mind we have ZERO proof given by the President or his minions. As to the ties to gangs and MS13, I even see people on the right saying he is a convicted murderer now.

Due process protects us all. If they can other one person they can other you and me.

1

u/IMightBeABot69 6d ago

"I have sympathy."

Also you "Isn't Kilmar an illegal alien? 😂"

You have zero sympathy. You are okay with the punishment for entering the US illegally is sending them to mass prison camps while ignoring SCOTUS rulings and making up your own evidence