I’m wondering why the headlines and chyrons are blasting the Trump administration spin about Kilmar Abrego Garcia being indicted, when the news there appears, to me, to be that the chief of the Justice Department’s criminal division in Nashville resigned over the decision to charge Abrego Garcia.
The charges against Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran who was living legally under protected status in Maryland with his family until he was ripped out of a car and put on a plane for a gulag in March, appear to be political cover for the Trump administration, which admitted that it made an error in sending Abrego Garcia to an El Salvador prison, but defied multiple court orders mandating his return.
The resignation of Ben Schrader, the chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, which he made public the same week of the grand jury indictment of Abrego Garcia last month, is your indication of the politics being played here.
“It has been an incredible privilege to serve as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, where the only job description I’ve ever known is to do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons,” Schrader wrote in a message on LinkedIn announcing his resignation.
Abrego Garcia was indicted on counts alleging his involvement in a conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.
The Trumpers have had a hard-on for Abrego Garcia since they got their hands slapped by the courts, and it was only after his case started getting coverage in the news media did it emerge that he had been pulled over in a van with nine Hispanic male passengers in Tennessee in 2022.
“The government disappeared Kilmar to a foreign prison in violation of a court order. Now, after months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him. This shows that they were playing games with the court all along,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for Abrego Garcia.
“Due process means the chance to defend yourself before you’re punished, not after. This is an abuse of power, not justice,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
Donald Trump, not surprisingly, has a different, and unconstitutional, view to share here.
“He should have never had to be returned. Take a look at what’s happened with it. Take a look at what they found in the grand jury,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One.
To be clear, grand juries are forums for prosecutors to present evidence that a crime may have been committed; the defense is not involved in grand-jury proceedings.
The process there is decidedly one-sided.
You’d think Trump, a 34-time convicted felon, would know this by now.
OK, so, yeah, he slept through most of his trial.
Where we are with this story now, then, is:
The Trump administration swore that Abrego Garcia would never be returned to the U.S., and he has now been returned.
The Trump administration felt compelled to make up something to cover having to comply with the court orders to bring Abrego Garcia back, so, they made up charges against him.
Don’t be surprised if they play games with this for the next few months, then end up dropping the charges, but still try to whisk him out of the country on an immigration loophole.
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Chris Graham
