Around 100 people rallied to call for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man who was wrongly deported and sent to an El Salvador prison by the Trump administration.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, an umbrella organization of around 300 unions, organized the rally. People in yellow vests stood in front of the federal building on North Los Angeles Street, holding signs that read “Bring our union siblings home.”
Abrego Garcia is a union member and worked in construction.
In March, Abrego Garcia was deported after the White House accused him of being a member of MS-13, a Salvadoran gang that the U.S. has labeled as a foreign terrorist organization. His family has denied any such involvement, and Abrego Garcia does not have a criminal record. In 2019, a judge ordered that he not be deported to his native El Salvador.
U.S. officials admitted after he was deported that they’d made a so-called “administrative error” in doing so. A federal judge has ordered that Abrego Garcia be brought back to the United States, however, Trump Administration officials have not complied thus far, stating they have no basis for his return.
At the rally, Labor Federation Press Secretary Kristal Romero said the organization demands due process for Abrego Garcia.
“They’ve now resorted to snatching people off the streets,” Romero said. “So our movement is united, and we are not for the injustice that’s taking place today.”
The federation has begun outreach amid President Trump’s new immigration policies by providing “Know Your Rights” trainings to its members.
“Folks are becoming a little bit more braver and bolder and standing up and saying something. So today was really important to show folks in our movement that we are here,” Romero said. “We’re standing up and we do have rights, even if the Trump administration doesn’t think so.”
A myriad of officials have called for Abrego Garcia’s release. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland traveled to El Salvador and met with him in prison last Thursday. Four House Democrats also traveled to the country to investigate his condition. Representatives Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida, and Robert Garcia of California arrived in the Central American nation on Sunday.
For union members like Luis Arida, advocating for Abrego Garcia’s return means showing up for family.
“Imagine somebody taking somebody from your family and illegally just disappearing from your life. That’s how much it hits us,” Arida said. “It’s important to us. We want our family here with us. This man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, here legally, green card, working, a first-year apprentice. He needs to come home. He’s one of us.”
Arida said he fears even his own status as a U.S. citizen has become irrelevant to his government.
“I have a fear that I could be pulled over and detained illegally and sent somewhere without my consent,” Arida said. “We just don’t know. So we need to stand up for all of our folks and protect each other.”