Will the sun come up for you?
A contemplative wondering into the experience of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
It's still dark. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is meant to be released and returned to the U.S. by Monday, April 7th, according to an order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis. Even if that does happen — and with this administration, I’ve learned to consider every step towards justice a big “if” — what about the injustice he’s experienced so far? Along with some 250 other beautiful souls, Garcia was wrongfully detained and deported to El Salvador on March 15th.
I sit…trying to imagine. To contemplate. The sun is rising. How many times has the sun risen since he’s been in a maximum security prison as a civilian with no criminal record? These big words can feel distancing. How many days has it been since a person, similar to you and me, who would go to work, come home, be with his wife and his kids, spend time with friends on the weekend — how long has it been since this regular human has been incorrectly and illegally sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador far, far away from his family? 22 days.
The sun hits my eyes. Have you seen it, Kilmar? Do they let light in there? During an immigration hearing in 2019, he communicated that he feared returning to his home country because of the potential threat of persecution and torture. He applied for asylum, but he missed the deadline and was denied. Who puts a deadline on seeking asylum? However, the judge agreed that it would be dangerous if he returned and ruled that he would be protected from deportation to El Salvador.
Did you ever wonder if this day would come, Kilmar? Did you have faith in this government to protect you? Did there come a time through the mundane moments of life where you felt like you were safe? Or were you afraid of something like this even before it happened?
I sit…trying to imagine. What were you feeling when they told you that you’d be deported? To El Salvador? To a maximum security prison? What was it like to call your wife and tell her that? Did you get to talk with your kids?
I heard they don’t let light in there. They don’t let you outside…ever.
What does it take to tell someone to walk into fire when you see fear in their eyes? It takes not looking in their eyes. It takes excluding yourself from any information that would humanize them. It takes ignoring their fears, and dreams, and people that love them. It takes a bigoted narrative that says you somehow know better if you ever hear the cries and anguish and anger of the ones they love.
March 15th is the last his wife, Jennifer, heard from him. What have you been through since then, Kilmar? I sit…trying to imagine. What were you feeling when they shaved your head and took your clothes? Were you cold? What thoughts were running through your mind on that flight? What anxieties did you have in your body? What fears gripped your heart? What happened when you got there? Have you been able to sleep on cold metal shelves with 65 to 70 others in the same cell? Have you been persecuted? Tortured? Beaten? All because of an administrative error? What have they done to you? Your lawyers are saying you’re at imminent risk of death. I fear for what you will sound like, how you will look, and what you will feel when you return. If you return.
The sun is up now. But I don't know when it will come up for you. I pray it’s by Monday.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
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