What Happens When Due Process Dies: The Illegal Deportation of American Citizens
- Apr 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 16
Abrego Garcia wasn’t a headline. He wasn’t famous. He didn’t storm a Capitol or run a scam PAC. He didn’t threaten a judge, dodge a subpoena or call for violence on Truth Social. He was just a man — an American Citizen — trying to live his life in a country that once promised fairness and rule of law.
Until that promise vanished — right in front of us.

You see, Garcia was swept up in one of the Trump administration’s expanded immigration raids. No warrant. No charges. No due process. He was detained without access to a lawyer, transferred across state lines and held in a facility where even his family couldn't locate him. And then — he was deported. Not released. Not tried. Not sent home. Disappeared to El Salvador, a country he hadn’t lived in since he was five. A country that, by law, had and still has no claim to him.
Let’s be absolutely clear: Abrego Garcia is an American Citizen.
When the Supreme Court intervened, they ruled his deportation was illegal and ordered the administration to bring him back. That should’ve been the end of it. But the Trump administration — in defiance of the highest court in the land — said there was “no mechanism” to return him. No way to retrieve an American Citizen from a country he never legally belonged to. This is a lie. A blatant, provable lie and nobody was held accountable. In fact, Trump doubled down. He met with the President of El Salvador and reportedly actually discussed plans to build more prisons — not for Salvadorans, but for “home-grown criminals.” That’s the phrase. Home-grown. A branding trick meant to dehumanize American Citizens by making them sound foreign. Dangerous. Detachable.
And here’s the kicker, crimes no longer have to be proven. No charges have to be filed. No trials need to be held. Accusation alone is all that is need; you no longer need to be convicted to be guilty. You just need to be labeled a problem.
Let me be clear again, this is not a warning. This is the America we’re living in RIGHT NOW — not one we're drifting toward, but one that’s already here. Due process isn’t being eroded in the shadows. It’s being dismantled in broad daylight. With press conferences. With applause. With campaign rallies.
Please understand how serious this is --- due process is what separates democracy from dictatorship. It’s the guardrail that protects all of us from the unchecked power of the state. The right to a hearing. The right to counsel. The right to know why you’ve been detained or deported or locked in a cell in a country you’ve never known.
When that goes, everything goes.
If Trump and his administration are not held accountable for what they’ve already done — illegally deporting an American Citizen, defying a Supreme Court ruling, lying to the public and laying the groundwork for an authoritarian pipeline of forced removals — then this isn't politics anymore. It's policy through terror.
Let’s play this out.
Your son (insert his name here) — an American Citizen — is walking home from work, school or simply checking his mail. Out of no where, with no warning, he’s stopped by ICE or local police assisting ICE. No warrant. No probable cause. Nothing. He doesn’t have his ID, but he tries to explain. They don’t care. He’s cuffed. He disappears. No phone call. No lawyer. No court date. Days turn into weeks.
He wakes up in a cell in another state. Then another. Eventually, another country.
No charges were ever filed. No trial was ever held. He is assigned a number with a vague note in a system that says “under review.”
And back home? You can’t find him. Your emails go unanswered. No one knows where he is. Or they know — and they’ve been told not to tell you. It is like he never existed.
Meanwhile, he sits in a foreign prison. He’s not a criminal. He’s never been in trouble. He’s not built for this. He doesn’t speak the language. He doesn’t understand the rules. He's not built for this. He’s surrounded by violence, confusion, and fear. He doesn’t have allies. He doesn’t have options. He tries to keep his head down, but it doesn’t matter. He's not built for this. This makes him an easy target, a mark. He’s beaten. He's Raped. He's passed around. sometimes once a day. Sometimes more. HE IS NOT BUILT FOR THIS!!! He stops counting. There’s no way out. No one to appeal to. No one coming. His name, his story, his rights — none of them matter here. They’ve been erased. He might as well be buried alive. All you’re left with is silence accompanied by the confusing realization that this country, your country, the country you grew up in did this --- and they called it justice.
You are not built for this...
As an independent journalist, I know what this means for people like me. The more this platform grows, the bigger the target becomes. Truth is dangerous to those in power — especially when it's loud. Especially when it's shared. So let this be my unapologetic plug: if you’re reading this, follow the blog, share the post and spread the word. We don’t mind Good Trouble — we not only looking for...WE ARE BUILT FOR THIS.
You see, what happened to Abrego Garcia wasn’t an accident. It was a blueprint. A stress test on democracy. A message to the every single American Citizen: your rights are negotiable. Your status is temporary and there is no longer a line to protect you.
The law doesn’t defend itself. The truth doesn’t shout on its own. And due process won’t survive unless we demand it. And once it breaks here — it breaks everywhere.
If the government no longer has to prove wrongdoing before punishing someone, how long before a digital algorithm decides you’re a threat based on what you read or post? How long before your phone pings near a protest and that’s enough to suspend your driver’s license or revoke your right to board a plane? How long before your teenager gets flagged by a school facial recognition system for “suspicious behavior” and you’re locked out of your bank account until you prove they didn’t do anything wrong? How long before your medical records, voting history or search history become tools of control, not privacy? How long before the accusation of “non-compliance” becomes the new criminal charge — no evidence, no explanation, no trial?
This isn’t about what’s happening to them. It’s about what can happen to you, without warning, without justice, and without a way out. When due process dies, power no longer needs to ask permission. And it certainly doesn’t need to tell the truth.
So no — we’re not wrapping this up with a hopeful quote or a clean takeaway. There’s no pretty bow on this. This is a call to action, call your representatives and demand they stand up to the Trump Administration --- these actions are impeachable.
If this message matters to you — help amplify it. Reed the People is an independent voice fueled by truth, not corporate backing. Every share, every dollar, and every show of support helps us stay loud, focused, and unapologetically honest.
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