TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A group of around 200 Tucsonans met outside the Consulate of El Salvador in Midtown Wednesday afternoon for a vigil honoring Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Maryland man is in the spotlight after the Trump Administration admitted to accidently deporting him to a prison in El Salvador in March.
The vigil bordered on the line of a protest. Tucsonans brought signs and chanted in both Spanish and English, demanding the return of Abrego Garcia and others they say were unfairly deported.
“We should all be outraged at the treatment of a legally admitted person,” said protester Karen Pope. “I consider the rule of law to be the reason we’re a democracy. We can’t be a democracy without due process and the rule of law.”
That's something she says Abrego Garcia didn't get.
He was deported to infamous prison CECOT in El Salvador, where he's been since March, despite a 2019 court order that barred him from being returned to his birth country.
On April 10, the United States Supreme Court said the Trump administration must work to bring Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., saying a federal judge's order properly required the government to facilitate his return.
Administration officials claim they're not able to do that.
President Trump met with El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele in Washington on April 14, where Bukele also said he wouldn't return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
Though the administration admits the deportation was an administrative error, they're doubling down on the decision, claiming Abrego Garcia is tied to international criminal gang MS-13 because of his clothing and tattoos.
That's a claim Abrego Garcia's family and lawyers deny.
Across the country, Americans are coming together to demand due process, including here in Tucson.
“If they say he is who they say he is without any due process, that could be any of us," said Raquel Gutierrez, a local poet who came to share her work with the crowd. "The state can decide who you are and without due process, you have no chance of claiming your name.”
She fears that anyone could be next, especially after President Trump expressed to Bukele that he's looking into deporting Americans with criminal charges.
“Kilmar Abrego Garcia can be a lot of people," Gutierrez said. "He could easily be someone from Houston, someone from Los Angeles, someone from San Francisco and everyone in between."
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
