Steele: How Is Garcia Case Different From Putin Journalist Grabs Or Rogue Grabs Of Americans In ME?

Michael Steele said, "I've been thinking about this case in particular (Kilmar Abrego Garcia).... How is this different from when Putin grabs a journalist or uh, some, uh, you know, rogue group in the Middle East grabs, uh, an American, and we're sitting here fighting to try to get them back. Our own government did this. Our own government snatched him up (Kilmar Abrego Garcia) and put him in harms way. And now refuses to do what it must do and should do to get him back home."

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please tell Michael Steele how Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation to his home country of El Salvador differs from Putin imprisoning journalists or terrorists abducting Americans in the Middle East.

Below are my thoughts.

Michael Steele’s claim that Trump’s 2025 deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is like Putin snatching journalists or terrorists kidnapping Americans is absurd. Garcia has been in the USA illegally since 2011, a deportable offense under INA Section 237(a)(1)(B).

Garcia was a suspected MS-13 thug, caught in 2019 with gang gear and MS-13 gang members, and tied to human trafficking in a 2022 Tennessee stop with eight non-citizen passengers while driving with an expired license. He was accused of abusing his wife, with disturbing allegations backed by a temporary protective order she obtained in May 2021, as granted based on allegations of domestic violence (punching, scratching, ripping clothes), which Steele completely ignores. The temporary protective order obtained by Jennifer Vasquez Sura against Kilmar Abrego Garcia in Prince George’s County District Court, Maryland, was issued in May 2021 and dismissed in June 2021 when Vasquez Sura failed to appear at a hearing—her not appearing doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. Steele’s failure to investigate or report the suspected crimes doesn’t show the whole picture.

These suspected crimes, sufficient for deportation under immigration law, prompted ICE’s action. The deportation followed established legal steps for detention: ICE detained Garcia on March 12, 2025, under INA Section 236 and pursued a removal order, as shown by ICE’s official records and court documentation. Steele’s outrage ignores that Garcia’s illegal status and suspected crimes drove the deportation, which Trump’s administration defends as a public safety measure, citing executive authority to prioritize dangerous aliens despite procedural disputes.

Unlike Putin’s journalist grabs or terrorist abductions of Americans in the Middle East, Trump’s action was a targeted, lawful effort to remove an illegal alien, a suspected gang member, a suspected human trafficker, and an accused wife-beater—equating it to rogue abductions of innocent people is ridiculous.