Bring SMART Local 100 Brother Home and Give Him Due Process
The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) is asking union members, supporters and allies to write to Congress and urge them to do what they can to help bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia home so he can receive due process.
BACKGROUND
On March 31, 2025, the Trump administration conceded in a court filing that it had mistakenly deported Abrego Garcia, a legally protected Maryland resident and father, to El Salvador because of an “administrative error.” The administration also claims that because Abrego Garcia is now in Salvadoran custody, the U.S government cannot return him to the United States.
Abrego Garcia is a SMART Local 100 first-year apprentice who was working full-time to support his family, including a 5-year old autistic son. He came to the United States as a teenager 15 years ago. According to his attorneys, he does not have a criminal record, was legally authorized to live and work in the United States and had fully complied with his responsibilities under the law.
“My husband Kilmar was abducted by the U.S. government,” his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura said at an April 4 press conference in Maryland. “In a blink of an eye, our three children lost their father. And I lost the love of my life. Our entire family is broken.”
"My husband Kilmar was abducted by the U.S. government. In a blink of an eye, our three children lost their father. And I lost the love of my life. Our entire family is broken."- Jennifer Vasquez Sura
Shortly after the press conference, a U.S. District Judge in Maryland called Abrego Garcia’s deportation unlawful and issued an order that he be returned to the United States. On Monday, the Supreme Court granted a request by the Trump administration to temporarily block the lower court order requiring that Abrego Garcia be returned.
“ICE called it an ‘administrative error.’ But let’s be clear: There is nothing administrative about destroying a family,” said Lydia Walther Rodriguez, chief of organizing and leadership for CASA of Maryland. “There is nothing accidental about violating a clear court order. There is nothing just about disappearing somebody into a notorious Salvadorian prison.”
SMART General President Michael Coleman, who also spoke at the Friday press conference, said the so-called “administrative error” had thrown the family “into fear, into heartbreak, and quite honestly, into jeopardy.”
“We are here with you,” added Coleman. “We will stay with you. We will organize. We will rally. And we will fight until justice is served and Kilmar comes home.”
WATCH VIDEO FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE: