- 7/7/2025
CASA, faith leaders, and immigration justice advocates held a rally for Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Monday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Bring Kilmer home!
00:03Bring Kilmer home!
00:25Bring Kilmer home!
00:44Good morning! Good morning!
00:49My name is Ama Frimpong. I am the Legal Director at Casa
00:53and a proud immigrant from Ghana, West Africa.
01:00We started the fight and chance to bring Kilmer home.
01:08About three and a half months ago,
01:12we first gathered here, right here, on the first Friday of April, many months ago,
01:19thinking, what happened to Kilmer was so wrong it couldn't possibly be true,
01:25or that even if it was true it would end quickly.
01:29But it was true.
01:32Kilmer Abrego Garcia, Casa member,
01:35sheet metal union worker,
01:37husband,
01:38father,
01:39son,
01:40brother,
01:41brother,
01:42with a legal right to be in this country,
01:45had been abducted by ICE on March 12th
01:48and on March 15th sent off to Secots.
01:51Shame!
01:52Shame!
01:53Shame!
01:54Shame!
01:55Shame!
01:56Shame!
01:57Shame!
01:58Shame!
01:59Shame!
02:00Shame!
02:01In El Salvador, the very country that a court order said that he should not be sent.
02:05On that first Friday in April, we sat inside that courtroom to see,
02:11and we heard the attorney for the government admit openly,
02:15Kilmer should have never been supported.
02:18That's right.
02:20And that without explanation, the government was refusing to bring him back.
02:26Shame!
02:27Shame!
02:28Shame!
02:29Shame!
02:30Shame!
02:31Shame!
02:32Now we know they fired that attorney for doing the right thing.
02:36Shame!
02:37Shame!
02:38But he is now telling his story.
02:40All right.
02:41And exposing what we knew all along.
02:43The government was lying, deceiving us,
02:47delaying court orders on purpose,
02:50and everything will be exposed.
02:52That's right.
02:53That's right.
02:54We learned that this horrible action that they took in March
02:58was part of a very calculated operation that weekend.
03:03It was a very calculated move to turn hundreds of people over to Sekot
03:10to be tortured and left for dead.
03:12Shame!
03:13Shame!
03:14Shame!
03:15Shame!
03:16Shame!
03:17Shame!
03:18It was a very calculated move, but they made a very serious miscalculation.
03:24That's right.
03:25That's right.
03:26They miscalculated us.
03:28The people united will never be defeated.
03:33The people united will never be defeated.
03:37The people united will never be defeated.
03:41The people united will never be defeated.
03:46They miscalculated our empathy, our anger, our reaction, our response, our solidarity.
03:55They miscalculated us.
03:57They thought that as the days, weeks, months went by, we would forget about Kilmer.
04:05They thought that once they launched an aggressive smear campaign against him,
04:10we would turn our backs on him and his family.
04:15They thought that once they brought him back to face baseless criminal charges,
04:21we would leave his side.
04:23As they plotted, delayed, deceived us every single day,
04:29they thought that we, the people, would give up.
04:33But they were wrong, weren't they?
04:35They were wrong.
04:38For over three months, we have shown up, rain or shine,
04:43from El Salvador to Maryland to Tennessee and across the world,
04:48we have shown up to send a strong message that immigrant lives matter.
04:53Black and brown lives matter.
04:57Due process matters.
04:59Our civil rights matter.
05:01And we will not let the Trump administration tell us otherwise.
05:05Make no mistake, Kilmer is back on U.S. soil because of us.
05:13Because of you and me and our power to fight and fight back.
05:19And you know what?
05:20The fight continues.
05:22We will raise our voices louder, fight back harder,
05:25and demand justice for Kilmer and all the Kilmers out there.
05:29The administration must release Kilmer back to his home right here in Maryland.
05:38Take accountability for its heinous actions
05:41and end its assault on our immigrant communities once and for all.
05:46That is what justice looks like,
05:50and we will not stop fighting until we get it.
05:54We will continue to show up.
05:57We will continue to bear witness.
05:59And we will continue to tell Kilmer's story
06:02because his story is our story.
06:05We are all Kilmer.
06:06We are all Kilmer.
06:08We are all Kilmer.
06:11We are all Kilmer.
06:13We are all Kilmer.
06:15We are all Kilmer.
06:17Todos somos Kilmer.
06:19Todos somos Kilmer.
06:22Todos somos Kilmer.
06:27Now as we stand here in solidarity with Kilmer, Jennifer, Cesar, the whole family,
06:33I would like to invite John Rewer with the Maryland Congregation Action Network
06:38and Michael Vanecourt with Pilgrim UCC Church.
06:42The ground is in prayer.
06:43Please come on up, gentlemen.
06:51This is what democracy looks like.
06:54Not just the courts, not just the people,
06:57but all of us working together for justice.
07:01We've been struggling for months.
07:03For due process for Kilmer.
07:05And this is just another chapter in that struggle.
07:08We want him simply brought home
07:10where he can have the support of his family and friends
07:12as he faces his accusers.
07:14We stand before God and each other
07:17to assert human dignity and the rule of law
07:21against those who would punish the most vulnerable for political gain.
07:26There is a story in Jewish tradition in the Talmud
07:29that says a person who saves one life saves the whole world.
07:33In my Christian tradition, I thought, that sounds a bit idealistic.
07:37But here we are.
07:38Kilmer is one man whose personal dignity would make this struggle worthwhile.
07:42But he represents tens of thousands of others who have been abducted and incarcerated unfairly.
07:48That's right.
07:49That's right.
07:50Two weeks ago, an interfaith delegation went to Gina, Louisiana,
07:54to the prison where Mahmoud Khalil was incarcerated
07:57after being abducted from Columbia University.
08:00And he was released just as we got there.
08:03And so we cheered and we celebrated.
08:08This work matters.
08:10But the people who work day in and day out with other detainees at those prison camps
08:15said, don't forget, there's 1,100 other people in this camp,
08:18many of which have a story similar to Mahmoud's.
08:22The way of authoritarians is always to see how much oppression they can get away with.
08:28And the more people yield to them, the more freedoms they will take.
08:31So our work on behalf of Kilmer is to save not only him, but thousands of others
08:38and eventually ourselves and the whole country.
08:43So in the custom of Quakers, I'm a member of a Delphi Quaker meeting here,
08:48let's take 30 seconds of silence in the presence of God, Kilmer's family, and humanity
08:55to reflect on our determination to speak up for freedom over oppression
09:00just law over brutal force and love over feel fear 30 seconds.
09:30Let us pray.
09:46Loving God, God of many names, God of our ancestors,
09:50I pray to you now in the name of the suffering Christ, the risen Christ.
09:54God, I pray to you, omnipotent, God sovereign, God ruler over all rulers,
10:01God king over all kings, God in your majesty, we pray to you, that God today,
10:08for we know that one man is being oppressed, incarcerated, persecuted
10:15by men who think they are gods, men and women who think they are gods.
10:19But we know that you, O God, are more powerful than any prison.
10:23You are more powerful than any incarceration system.
10:27You are more powerful than any persecution.
10:29And you are on the side of Kilmer.
10:32You are on the side of Kilmer's family.
10:35You are our shelter, our refuge, our strength,
10:40our very present hope in a time of trouble, O God.
10:43You are a God of liberation, and we trust in you and in the people gathered here
10:50that Kilmer will be set free and reunited with his family
10:55and justice will be served even now we have that faith in you.
11:01We gather in the name of all that we hold sake and we commend this prayer to you.
11:06I pray in the name of Jesus and to all the names that we pray, we say amen.
11:10Amen.
11:13Thank you so much, John and Michael, for those words,
11:20for grounding us in prayer this morning.
11:23Now, as they say, right, if you want to go fast, go alone.
11:28If you want to go far, go together, right?
11:31We cannot do this work alone.
11:35We cannot fight for justice alone.
11:37We stand in solidarity and partnership with each other.
11:41And I'm so glad to introduce Ronald Claude from one of our greatest partners,
11:47Black Alliance for Just Immigration.
11:50Please come on up, Ronald.
11:56Thank you all today for coming, standing with Kilmer Abrego Garcia.
12:02We are here on his behalf.
12:06And there's a story that says that he was deported mistakenly from the U.S. to El Salvador in March.
12:11But we must be clear, there was no mistake in Garcia's deportation and detention.
12:16It was all an intentional policy decision and practice that black migrants know far too well.
12:21Black migrants have long described their conditions as torture because the truth is, detention is torture.
12:29Abrego Garcia's experience and current predicament highlight the dark tunnel the U.S. immigration system continues to head down.
12:37That even when his internees, knowing all that Garcia has gone through in detention,
12:43ask that he remain in jail over the concerns that he could be deported again.
12:46The criminalization of black and brown people is one of the enduring legacies of this country's DNA.
12:57It includes a legacy of slavery and segregation, cops and cages, and displacement and death.
13:04And this country is allowing law enforcement to further criminalize immigrants,
13:08whether documented or undocumented, with the mandatory or indefinite detention.
13:13And even in other countries under the coercion of the U.S. imperialism system, like in the case of Abrego Garcia.
13:21This administration is working tirelessly to kick us out, lock us up, and keep us out.
13:29Lock us up is reflected in the rising detention and even kidnapping of migrants.
13:34Keep us out is enforced through travel bans and border restrictions.
13:37And the kick us out portion is experienced by these disappearances to third countries.
13:42Experienced like Abrego Garcia.
13:46Our opposition must be clear and restless in fighting against laws that center the role of the carceral state
13:52to effortlessly and violently separate, exclude, banish migrants from their families and communities.
13:59We must reject archaic criminal provisions as solutions and take on the necessary and challenging work
14:06of focusing on modern, community-led, transformative solutions that improve our lives and our communities.
14:13That is the only safety worth pursuing.
14:22Give it up for Ronald, y'all.
14:24Thank you so much.
14:27Thank you, Ronald.
14:28Look, we have to work together as a community to build a better present and future for us all.
14:38And the reality is we cannot do that work without our elected officials.
14:43And we are so grateful for those officials who have been bold, who have been loud in standing with us
14:50and continue to fight with us every single day, including, including standing in the rain with us today.
14:59So I want to recognize Councilmember Eric Olson, who's here with us today.
15:05There you are.
15:07Delegate Danny Tavarez, our wonderful hype woman who was on our behalf of all.
15:12And, of course, the chair of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, Ashanti Martinez, who will share
15:24some words with us today.
15:25Please come on up, Delegate.
15:32Good morning, everyone.
15:34Good morning.
15:35My name is Delegate Ashanti Martinez, and I have the honor and privilege of representing
15:38Prince George's County, as well as serving chair of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus.
15:44We're gathered here today because justice is on trial.
15:48Because a Maryland man, a father, a husband, a neighbor, is being dragged into a legal and
15:54political storm that threatens the very principles this nation claims to stand for.
15:58Kilmar Obrego Garcia is a Maryland man, not a gang member.
16:03He is not a threat.
16:04He is not a flight risk.
16:05He is not a criminal.
16:06He's a Prince Georgian, a man who's raising his family here, paying his taxes, and contributing
16:12to the fabric of this state like so many other hardworking immigrants who call Maryland home.
16:18Let's be clear.
16:20The federal government already admitted it made a mistake in deporting him the first time.
16:24Now, instead of correcting course, they want to move the goalpost to try him in Tennessee,
16:30far away from his home, his legal support, and the community that knows him and stands
16:35with him.
16:36Those are the people you see here today.
16:38Yes.
16:39And you might ask yourself why.
16:41Because it's easier to demonize someone from a distance.
16:45It's harder to paint a villain of someone who is just a man dropping off his kids at school,
16:51when they see a husband working with his union brothers and sisters to provide for his family,
16:55when they see a Marylander standing in his truth.
16:59And I'll be honest, as chair of the Maryland Legislative Latino Caucus, I could not stand
17:05in silence.
17:06I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that we are here standing with Kilmar,
17:11because any day it could be one of us that is now standing on trial, having to defend
17:17our rights here as citizens, as neighbors, as Marylanders.
17:21We have an obligation to due process.
17:24And so to this administration, we simply ask, bring Kilmar home, stop the terror through
17:31ICE and the unlawful, unconstitutional actions that have been taking place, because this is
17:38America.
17:39We have rules.
17:40We have process.
17:42And every single day, this administration continues to put an assault on all the things
17:46that we know normal.
17:47Shame.
17:49Shame.
17:50Shame.
17:57That's right.
17:58Give it up for the delegate.
18:00Delegate Martinez, thank you for sharing those words.
18:03As he shared, this could be any of us.
18:07Let's not get comfortable.
18:09If we let it happen to one person, it could happen to any of us standing here.
18:13We cannot let it stand.
18:16Now, throughout the last few months, Kilmer's family has been supported by members of the
18:24community.
18:26And truly, we must give gratitude to the union members.
18:36We must recognize the unwavering solidarity of Kilmer's union siblings.
18:42Please join me in welcoming Greg Ackerman, president of the Baltimore, D.C. Metro Building Trades
18:50Council.
18:51Did I get a long name right?
18:55Good morning.
19:00Kilmer is our brother.
19:02We have 30,000 members in this region.
19:05And each and every one of them is Kilmer's brother and sister.
19:11When this happened, we all couldn't believe it at first.
19:14But part of us could, because our members, before they became union, were victims of wage theft.
19:22They were told that if they speak up about their issues on the job site, the contractor
19:28will call ICE.
19:30They were told if they complain about safety hazards, if they complain about harassment,
19:34that they will be the victims of immigration enforcement.
19:37And unfortunately, unfortunately, under this administration, that continues to happen on the job site.
19:45What none of us thought would happen is what happened to Kilmer, which is when he was picking
19:50up his kids from preschool, that he was also illegally kidnapped and sent back to El Salvador.
19:58Our members know that this could happen to every single one of them.
20:04And so, to Kilmer's family, I hope you know that our 30,000 members, they are Kilmer's sisters and brothers.
20:11That's right.
20:11That's right.
20:12That's right.
20:13We are not just a nation of immigrants.
20:18We are a union of immigrants.
20:19Our unions were founded by immigrants who came to this country.
20:23That's right.
20:23And they were harassed, and they were the victims of wage theft.
20:26And then, hundreds of years later, that still happens.
20:31And all we have left to do is we have to band together.
20:36Our unions, we don't have a choice.
20:38This could happen to Kilmer, and this could happen to any single one of our 30,000 members.
20:43So, please, please, please, if we want to continue, if we want to continue to create a middle class in this country,
20:48it is imperative to bring Kilmer home.
20:50These things are completely, completely related.
20:53Yeah.
20:53So, on behalf of my union, the painters, and allied trades, on behalf of all the building trades,
21:02we stand with Kilmer, and we have one simple message.
21:05Bring Kilmer home.
21:06That's right.
21:07That's right.
21:09The 17th story are not his feet.
21:11The 17th story are not his feet.
21:13That's right.
21:14Bring Kilmer home.
21:16Bring Kilmer home.
21:17Bring Kilmer home.
21:20Bring Kilmer home.
21:24Give it up for union solidarity, y'all.
21:28Give it up for union solidarity.
21:30The fight for immigrants' rights is a fight for workers' rights.
21:34It is my pleasure to welcome our last speaker to the mic, Samuel Epps, President of the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the nation, fighting loud and clear for immigrants. Come on up, Sam.
21:53Thank you. Good morning. Kilmar is our brother. You heard that from Greg. I'm the president of the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO, representing 150,000 union members here in Prince George's County, D.C., Charles Calvert, and Montgomery County.
22:15And we stand here in solidarity with our brother Kilmar, his family, our allies across the community, CASA, and all our community partners here.
22:28You know, this past weekend, we all celebrated freedom. Our country celebrated the 4th of July.
22:34Kilmar did not get to celebrate that with his family this past weekend.
22:40His freedom, his due process has been taken away from him.
22:44And we're ashamed, absolutely shameful.
22:47And we stand here as union brothers and sisters saying an injury to one is an injury to all.
22:54And so no matter if you're a teacher teaching in a school here in Prince George's County, an iron worker here building a building, a hotel worker at National Harbor, we are all Kilmar.
23:06And we stand here saying bring Kilmar home.
23:10And we want Kilmar home because he's one of us.
23:13And across this country, our government is terrorizing working people across this country, not only economically, but also socially and blaming workers, black and brown, that they're taking something from someone else.
23:28It is the oligarchs in this country who are now taking freedom from all of us.
23:34And we won't stand until Kilmar comes home.
23:39All right.
23:44Thank you so much, Sam.
23:45And thank you to all of you for being here today.
23:48Again, we knew it would rain, but here we are showing up as always.
23:53So we are going to go inside the courtroom because, you know, we are going to fight through every means possible outside the courtroom and inside the courtroom.
24:04We are going in there.
24:05We will be back out here after the hearing with the attorneys that argue on this case to take any questions that you all might have.