THE SUPREME COURT SPOKE. TRUMP LICKED HIS FINGERS AND TURNED THE PAGE.
On April 10, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ordered Donald Trump’s administration to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15, despite a 2019 immigration court order barring his removal due to credible fear of persecution.
He has now been caged for a month in CECOT, El Salvador’s most notorious mega-prison — the same concrete monument to state violence that U.S. taxpayers are funding under a $6 million Trump–Bukele deal.
So what has the administration done to “facilitate” his release?
Absolutely nothing. Not even a phone call.
“There is no evidence that anyone has requested the release of Abrego Garcia,” his lawyers wrote in a court filing Tuesday.
“To date, the Government has not done so.”
ICE threw him into a foreign prison against a court order. The Supreme Court said bring him home. Trump threw up his hands, changed the subject to transgender athletes, and complimented El Salvador’s president on his youthful glow.
THE OVAL OFFICE: NOW CASTING FOR COMPLICIT DICTATORS
Monday’s scene was almost too grotesque to satirize. Pam Bondi — now Attorney General — perched on a couch beside Marco Rubio, Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller, who seemed to be playing a racist ventriloquist dummy of himself. In the center sat Trump, gold chair, legs spread, double finger guns locked and loaded.
And next to him — tieless, smug, and freshly deodorized with American legitimacy — was Nayib Bukele, the Salvadoran autocrat who once called himself the “world’s coolest dictator.” He seemed to think this was all hilarious.
When asked whether he’d return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., Bukele responded:
“How can I return him to the United States? Like if I smuggle him into the United States? Of course I’m not going to do it.”
Let’s be clear: Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a legal U.S. resident. A federal judge ruled he should not be deported. The Supreme Court said he must be returned. And yet, Bukele publicly mocked the idea of complying — from inside the goddamn White House.
And Trump just smiled.
“You sort of look like a teenager,” Trump told him.
Bukele blushed and smirked like he’d just been asked to stay for ice cream after detention.
“THAT’S UP TO EL SALVADOR,” SAID THE KIDNAPPER’S LAWYER
Pam Bondi, channeling the legal brilliance of a bathmat, declared:
“If El Salvador … wanted to return him, we would facilitate it. That’s up to El Salvador.”
That’s not what the Supreme Court said. That’s not what the law says. That’s not how facilitate works. But this administration treats the Constitution like a set of buffet suggestions — take what you want, throw out the rest, then complain that the Supreme Court is being “confusing.”
Marco Rubio whined:
“No court in the United States has a right to conduct a foreign policy of the United States.”
That’s not foreign policy, senator. That’s compliance with a federal ruling. It’s the bare minimum expected in a democracy. But maybe Rubio got confused — maybe he thought the press conference was being held in Bukele’s Oval Office.
Meanwhile, Stephen Miller barked to reporters:
“People like CNN want foreign terrorists in the country who kidnap women and children.”
Garcia has never been charged with terrorism. A federal judge ruled that there is no credible evidence tying him to MS-13. But Stephen Miller doesn’t care. Because fear is the product. Cruelty is the policy. And reality is whatever they say it is.
“IF HE’S NOT HOME BY MIDWEEK, I’M GOING TO EL SALVADOR”
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, has had enough. On Monday, he wrote to the Salvadoran embassy and said plainly:
“If [Abrego Garcia] is not back in the United States by midweek, I will travel to El Salvador this week to check on his condition and discuss his release.”
He was joined by Rep. Maxwell Frost:
“We must all stand as a united front against the kidnapping and illegal detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”
And Rep. Yassamin Ansari added: “Ready to join.”
Yes — members of the U.S. Congress are now preparing to fly overseas to rescue a man the American government illegally deported, while the president who sent him away laughs on camera with the dictator detaining him.
This is not diplomacy. This is hostage theater. This is fascist performance art with a body count.
TRUMP FLOATS ANOTHER IDEA: DEPORTING CITIZENS
In the same meeting, Trump floated something even darker: deporting U.S. citizens. That’s not a typo. According to NBC News, Trump “mulls imprisoning U.S. citizens abroad: ‘Homegrowns are next’” — a statement so breathtakingly illegal that one law professor responded:
“Pretty obviously illegal and unconstitutional.”
But that’s what Trump does. He throws Molotov cocktails into the rule of law and watches the cameras flicker. And while we’re all busy reacting, Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains in a cell, trapped in the concrete belly of a prison we are literally paying to operate.
This is beyond contempt of court.
It’s contempt of the Constitution. Contempt of Congress. Contempt of truth, justice, and the very idea of America.
This isn’t about immigration anymore. It’s about what kind of country we are. If you’re disgusted, outraged, or just awake — help us fight back. Share this story. Subscribe. Speak out. Because if they can do this to him, they can do it to any of us.
This post has been syndicated from Closer to the Edge, where it was published under this address.