Protecting our rights: Kilmar Abrego Garcia and the fight for due process

Information in this article is current as of September 18, 2025.

Temperatures were rising and spring was in the Maryland air on March 12, 2025. SMART Local 100 apprentice Kilmar Abrego Garcia had just finished a shift for a signatory contractor and picked up his five-year old son from school. He was headed home with his son strapped into a car seat designed for children with disabilities.

As he drove on Baltimore Avenue in College Park, Md., a law enforcement officer pulled him over.

Abrego Garcia thought it was just a routine traffic stop. It was anything but.

The events that followed marked the start of a monthslong saga for Abrego Garcia during which he was unlawfully sent to El Salvador and held at the notorious CECOT prison. They also reveal just what’s at stake when we say, “an injury to one is an injury to all.” Because the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not just about one man. It is about all of us — and the rights we all stand to lose when one person is deprived of theirs.

The right to work

Kilmar Abrego Garcia joined Local 100 as an apprentice in January 2025. Five years prior, an immigration judge had granted Abrego Garcia “withholding from removal” status, which prohibited the government from deporting him to El Salvador on account of a credible fear of perse­cution and gang violence. Like many SMART members and millions of taxpayers in the United States who are not citizens, Abrego Garcia’s status authorized him to work in the United States — and to union representation.

As SMART House Counsel Luke Rebecchi noted, “millions of people in this country, many of our members, are not citizens but have every lawful right to be here and to work. And it’s incumbent upon the union to represent them.”

Abrego Garcia’s immigration status prevented the federal government from sending him to El Salvador, what Rebecchi called “the one and only place that he could not be removed to.” But that is exactly what the federal government did, just days after he was detained. The federal government later sought to justify his deportation by describing Abrego Garcia as a gang member, but it never gave Abrego Garcia theopportunity to defend himself against the allegation. It simply removed him.

When Abrego Garcia arrived in El Salvador, he was immediately imprisoned in the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT); a prison known worldwide for alleged human rights abuses. He was later moved to a different prison in response to public pressure, but according to United States Senator for Maryland Chris Van Hollen — who met with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador — he had no contact with his wife, his children or legal counsel for months. His attorneys have since alleged that he was tortured and lost 30 pounds during his imprisonment.

Following Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador, and in the months since, various media personalities and governmental officials have resorted to attacking his character and made all sorts of allegations against him, as justification for his removal. These attacks made headlines, but they do not change the central fact of the matter: The federal government did not give Kilmar Abrego Garcia an opportunity to defend himself before he was summarily removed to El Salvador. In other words, he was deprived of due process.

The constitutional right to due process

The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution states: “No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of the law.” The 14th Amendment adds: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

As SMART House Counsel, Rebecchi works to protect the rights of SMART members on a daily basis. He explained that the wording in the Constitution around these rights to due process is very specific — and it protects every one of us from unfair persecution.

“The Constitution mentions ‘citizens’ in many places, but it specifically states ‘no person’ [in the Fifth Amendment],” Rebecchi said. “The use of ‘person’ was intentional, and it protects all persons in the United States regardless of their citizenship status. Before the government deprives a person in the United States of life, liberty or property — for instance, by imprisoning them, fining them or deporting them — that person is entitled to a fair hearing and the opportunity to defend themselves against the charges. Without process of law, without an opportunity to present your case, to have your liberty decided by someone who’s neutral and impartial — without that, we’re all at the whims of somebody else, of whoever occupies the Oval Office. Without due process, then it’s whatever they say. That’s a terrifying reality to live in.”

Rebecchi noted that the right to due process has particular significance for SMART members.

“None of us would stand for an employer who just says, ‘no, you don’t work here anymore.’ We negotiate contracts that ensure that members have a right to be heard,” he said. “That protects them at work. That’s one of the guarantees of the labor movement.”

SMART General President Michael Coleman summed it up succinctly following a press conference in April: “When Kilmar Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, he was denied his right to due process, and we at SMART are fighting to ensure he receives the treatment he is granted under law — just like we would, and we always will, fight for the rights of every single SMART member.”

Justice delayed

On March 24, 2025, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer, sued the government on behalf of herself, Kilmar andtheir son. Almost immediately, the federal government admitted that Abrego Garcia’s disappearance to El Salvador was an “error,” and on April 4, Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. The government appealed the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court. On April 10, the Supreme Court ruled against the federal government and ordered the federal government to facilitate his return to the United States.

And yet, Abrego Garcia remained in an El Salvador prison until early June.

“It’s just not enough to admit that you made a mistake,” General President Coleman said in April. “You need to fix it.”

From coast to coast, SMART members fight for justice

The magnitude of Abrego Garcia’s case became clear immediately, and SMART leapt into action. SMART leaders and members rallied with Abrego Garcia’s family, lawyers and supporters, demanding justice and due process. General President Coleman appeared on CNN to emphasize the importance of due process and constitutional rights.

SMART leaders also helped rally the labor movement to the cause. General President Coleman, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) President Jimmy Williams, UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills and Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, sent a letter to Ambassador Milena Mayorga of El Salvador on May 1, 2025, calling on the Salvadoran government to imme­diately release Abrego Garcia and respect his right to due process.

International leaders were joined by SMART members from coast to coast. On May 1, members of Local 80 helped lead the Detroit May Day parade, with Business Agent Jason Grunenwald delivering a speech demanding justice for Abrego Garcia. And in Los Angeles, Local 105 officers and members rallied with sister unions and members of Congress, demanding thatthe government bring Abrego Garcia home and give him due process.

“Today it’s Kilmar, tomorrow it could be me,” said Local 105 member Alex Calderon. “Tomorrow it could be any one of us or our loved ones. Please fight to bring Kilmar back home.”

An injury to one is an injury to all

It hasn’t only been SMART members fighting for Abrego Garcia’s due process. Across North America — and even across the world — workers demonstrated the meaning of union solidarity in the battle for our rights. That included Iron Workers in Boston, UNITE HERE members in Las Vegas, transit workers in Southern California, railroad workers in Maryland, the Unión General de Trabajadores in Spain and many more.

Why? Because union members know, better than most other people in the world, the power of solidarity.

“Kilmar was denied his due process, which is not only wrong — it’s also a very betrayal of what we stand for in this country,” said former Local 105 Business Manager Steve Hinson.

Abrego Garcia returns to the United States — but the case continues

Abrego Garcia was finally brought back to the United States in early June. But he was immediately indicted on new criminal charges of alleged human trafficking. Abrego Garcia has pled not guilty, and his attorneyshave steadfastly maintained that the criminal charges are baseless and nothing more than political retribution.

In August, Abrego Garcia was released on bond from Putnam County Jail in Tennessee and traveled home to Maryland, where he finally reunited with his family.

But just three days later, while he was following the law and attending a mandatory Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in in Baltimore, he was taken back into custody. The federal government has since notified Abrego Garcia’s attorneys of its intent to deport him to Eswatini — a country he has no relation to — after he rejected a deal in which, in exchange for a guilty plea, the government would have deported him to Costa Rica.

“At SMART, we fight for the principle of due process every single day. We stand for the fundamental American value that all our members, and everyone in this country, are innocent until proven guilty. Let’s be very clear: Kilmar deserves his day in court. And if the government wants to send him to jail, they need to prove his guilt in court,” said General President Coleman after ICE took Abrego Garcia back into custody.

He added: “As of [Monday] morning [August 25], Kilmar has filed a lawsuit challenging his detention and deportation, ‘unless and until he [has] a fair trial in an immigration court, as well as his full appeal rights.’ We stand with Kilmar’s family and supporters in demanding he receive a fair trial and the chance to make his case in court.”