Bits & Bytes

BORDER: Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia (photo) has been in the news a lot lately. Here is a summary of the situation – In 2011, Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally, allegedly to escape gang threats in his home country of El Salvador. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him “withholding of removal” status, based on the alleged gang threat. This status allowed him to live and work legally in the United States. He married a U.S. citizen and has had children with her.

On March 15, 2025, he was deported to El Salvador under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act as an MS-13 gang member, which is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. He was subsequently imprisoned without trial in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, despite never having been charged with or convicted of a crime in either country.

Despite the Democrat media machine ginning up massive support for this man, the Trump administration has held firmly to its claim that he is a high level leader in MS-13 who has facilitated human trafficking. In addition, his wife took out a restraining order following a beating by her husband; she now says they are working things out and she wants him back.

On April 10, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was illegal and ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return. The administration said they would meet this obligation by providing a plane and admitting him into the U.S. if El Salvador chooses to release him. But President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador says he will not “smuggle a terrorist into the United States.”

On April 16, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) went to El Salvador to see Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen, who voted against The Laken Riley Act, was told he didn’t give the prison enough notice to see the prisoner.

Also on April 16, the Trump administration released their evidence that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 in good standing.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Kilmar_Abrego_Garcia
• https://nypost.com/2025/04/16/us-news/alleged-ms-13-gangbanger-kilmar-abrego-garcias-rank-street-name-revealed-as-fight-over-deportation-to-el-salvador-mega-prison-rages-docs/
• https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-kaine-bennet-hickenlooper-king-lujan-merkley-shaheen-warner-and-welch-unveil-amendment-to-improve-laken-riley-act

HAIKU APPRECIATION DAY: Yes, there really is such a thing. And, ta da! It’s today! Glass ballerina is my favorite of the haikus I have composed. I also googled Facebook and found some haiku groups. This posting by Linda Rivas Bole caught my attention –

the wind blows so hard

it helps with pollination

we will have flowers

• https://nationaltoday.com/national-haiku-day/

MILITARY: In late March, the Pentagon began investigating leaks of national security information that was only available to a handful of high level personnel. On Tuesday, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick were escorted out of the Pentagon by security.

• https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pentagon-leak-probe-caldwell/2025/04/15/id/1206997/
• https://nypost.com/2025/04/15/us-news/top-hegseth-adviser-dan-caldwell-escorted-out-of-pentagon-placed-on-leave-amid-leak-probe/

UK: The British Supreme Court just ruled on a case about whether a trans-identifying man with a “gender recognition certificate” that legally recognizes him as female is protected from discrimination as a woman under the 2010 Equality Act. The court said no; the legal definition of “woman” is based on biology and does not include trans-identifying men who say they are women. In response to the ruling, the British government said it supports “single-sex spaces.”

• https://www.dailywire.com/news/uk-supreme-court-rules-trans-identifying-men-are-not-women

GRAMMY NOTES: [13:30] – The Ghost Army is an art history nerd’s catnip.