Write to Free Kilmar Abrego Garcia (Addresses are at the bottom of this post and just above the videos.)

Kilmar Abrego Garcia , an El Salvadoran national, was deported by the Trump administration and has been imprisoned in Cecot, a prison known as one of the worst in the world. Albrego Garcia has zero criminal convictions although he did have a restraining order filed against him by his wife. However, they got counseling for their issues, reconciled, and have a five-year-old son. Moreover, Abrego Garcia was granted temporary protective status by an immigration judge who believed his claims that he was at risk for violent assaults by gang members if he returned to El Salvador. Even the Trump administration has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia's deportation was an administrative error but have refused to take steps to have him returned to the US.  

The Trump administration has argued that Abrego Garcia had known gang affiliations. This accusation--and no charges were ever filed--has been described by the BBC:

Officials argued that Mr Ábrego García was a member of an MS-13 gang in New York based on his clothes - which included Chicago Bulls merchandise - and the word of an unknown informant.

 

His attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg rebuffed those claims and has questioned how Mr Ábrego García's clothes could prove gang affiliation.

 

The lawyer has also cast doubt on the reliability of the unidentified informant. He said Mr Ábrego García has not lived in New York.

I don't know whether Abrego Garcia is a gang member or not, and that is the point. He has had no hearing in the US or El Salvador. He has been given no chance to defend himself. In the US, he is innocent until proven guilty--and he has not been proven guilty. 

To understand what Abrego Garcia's life is like right now, recall the words of a former El Salvadoran Minister of Justice, who said, "The only way out is in a coffin." Cecot, the prison where he is held, is one of the most notorious in the world. Conditions in Cecot are similar to those in Stalin's gulags with credible accusations of torture, a high death rate from preventable causes, a denial of access to lawyers and family, and a total denial of outdoor time--even in Stalin's gulags, prisoners were allowed outside sometimes. 

The first video embedded below, produced by CBS's 60 Minutes, claims that many migrants arrrested and deported to Cecot have no criminal convictions. Some have no charges against them whatsoever. 

The second video shows more details about the conditions: only 2 toilets per 80 inmates and no privacy for handling the most intimate of bodily functions. The diet consists of tortillas, rice, beans, no meat, and no vegetables. Inmates must eat with their hands, because eating utensils of any kind can be turned into weapons. No doubt, the inmates suffer from nutritional deficiencies. The lack of outdoor time means that many lack vitamin D, which is necessary not only for bone health but for mental health as well.  . 

El Salvador once had the world's highest murder rate and many El Salvadorans approve this prison system because the country is now much safer. The problem is that not everyone in this inhumane place is guilty.

Cecot is in the news because the Trump administration deported over 200 Venezuelan migrants, not to their home country, but to El Salvador, where they are imprisoned in Cecot. These men received no hearing or other chance to defend themselves before being flown to one of the world's harshest prisons.

Please watch the videos below and write your represenatives, senators, and the president and ask them to work for the release of the innocent. 

Remember that Amnesty International has found that letter-writing campaigns can be effective in aiding the victims of human rights violations if enough people participate. 

You can find contact information at this website: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

You may also write to the El Salvadoran ambassador to the United States: 

El Salvador Washington DC Embassy

• Address: 1400 16th Street N.W. Suite 100. Washington, DC 20036.
• Phone: 1-202-595-7500.
• Fax: 1-202-232-3763.
• Email: cbartoli@elsalvador.org.
• The letter salutation is "Your Excellency"

 

The video below shows the conditions.