Stop the Disappearances: Deportations Without Due Process Endanger Us All
On March 12, federal agents snatched Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a longtime Maryland resident and father of three—outside his home and flew him to El Salvador within seventy-two hours. No judge heard his case. No lawyer stood beside him. A 2019 federal ruling had already protected Kilmar from removal, yet officials ignored that order and delivered him to CECOT, a mega-prison notorious for torture.
One month later in rural Florida, immigration agents picked up Pastor Maurilio Ambrocio at a routine check-in. For twenty years Maurilio has led a small evangelical congregation, paid taxes, and run a landscaping crew. He also holds a valid stay of removal that should shield him while he reports to ICE each year. Agents detained him anyway, leaving his five U.S.-citizen children—ages 12 to 23—to keep food on the table and their church doors open.
Different states, same playbook: officials claim broad power to seize people without a warrant, rush them into detention or exile, and shrug when courts push back.
When authorities defy the law, everyone’s rights shrink
On April 10 the Supreme Court ordered the administration to return Kilmar to the United States. The White House refused and insisted the president may disappear anyone he labels a threat. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis boasts that his state led “Operation April 18,” arresting more than a thousand migrants in one weekend—many at their children’s schools, churches, and job sites.
If the MAGA regime can ignore a unanimous Court ruling or an ICE-issued stay today, what will restrain them tomorrow? History shows that autocrats who get away with one disappearance rarely stop at one. If the president can ignore a Supreme Court order today, he will ignore other orders tomorrow. If he can strip a long-time resident of due process, he can target a citizen next. The victims may change, but the goal is the same: divide us, silence dissent, and keep power unchecked.
A machine built to remove people from the reach of justice
Kilmar was first held at CECOT—the “Center for Confinement of Terrorism”—a giant complex run by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Bukele, a self-proclaimed dictator and close Trump ally, fills the prison with thousands of people who have never seen a judge. Detainees are shaved, isolated, and cut off from family and lawyers. Monitors report torture, malnutrition, and deaths. For the Trump administration, CECOT offers a convenient tool: it cages people far from U.S. courts while claiming the U.S. has no jurisdiction. Plane after plane keeps arriving, and Bukele pockets U.S. funds for every new captive.
True public safety comes from strong communities, not secret cages
Kilmar rushed his autistic son to therapy every week. Maurilio rescued neighbors after Hurricane Milton, then opened his church as a polling site. Removing people like them does not protect anyone; it tears the social fabric that actually keeps us secure. Safety grows when families stay intact, workers receive fair wages, and police and immigration officers answer to the Constitution.
Our shared responsibility
Members of Congress from both parties must act, yet they will move only if we move first. Courts alone cannot check an executive branch determined to override them. Together we can block the machinery of disappearances and bring fathers, mothers, and pastors home.
Here’s how we exercise our power today
Sound the alarm. Share Kilmar’s and Maurilio’s stories in your networks, on social media, and in letters to the editor. Make clear that deportations without hearings violate every resident’s basic rights.
Press your elected officials. Call Daines and Sheehy, Zinke, Gianforte, and other government leaders. Demand they publicly condemn the illegal deportations block any funding for the disappearance program, and insist on the immediate release of anyone detained in violation of a court order or formal stay.
Stand together in public spaces. Peaceful rallies outside detention centers, courthouses, and state capitols show officials they cannot hide abuses behind closed doors. Bring signs that read “Due Process for All” and “Bring Them Home.”
Support impacted families. Donate to mutual-aid funds, offer childcare, or volunteer professional skills—bookkeeping, legal translation, counseling—to neighbors fighting their own cases. Every act of solidarity weakens the administration’s campaign of fear.
A future worth building
We deserve a country where every family can stay together, where leaders follow the law, and where no one is whisked away to a secret cell. We insist that courts, not politicians, decide who may stay and who must go. Kilmar’s children and Maurilio’s congregation are waiting for them. Let’s insist that both men come home immediately and close the door on government-sponsored disappearances—before that door slams on all of us.