By dismissing charges, he could keep them there forever.
Trump was under pressure to bring Garcia back from El Salvador, but needed an excuse to save face. He conjured up a grand jury to indict Garcia on some charges, knowing that ‘a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich.’
Trump’s TACO image is on full display here. I’d like to add some letters to the acronym, but I fear you could come up with something better than this: TACO-SHOW (Says He Only Won). That is, even when he chickens out, he declares victory.
So now Garcia is back facing trial. I’d think any judge in his right mind would dismiss the charges, since there is no way Garcia can get a fair trial. Think of it – the President of the United States goes on national TV, saying what a horrible person Garcia is and how he committed all sorts of heinous crimes. Trump went so far as to fake that photograph with the phony MS13 tattoo. And then there are these ‘witnesses’ who are in jail but have been offered some kind of deal to testify. They can hardly be credible. This is a kangaroo court if I ever saw one.
It is possible that charges will be quietly dismissed. After all, Garcia has been returned and Trump has saved a modicum of face. The case can be silently forgotten.
But what about all those other deportees in El Salvador? Why not press for extradition of all of them back to the US? That would really be a big loss of face for Trump. So he now has a really insidious plan.
Many of the deportees have criminal cases pending against them. They could be extradited to the US. But the Trump plan is to dismiss charges against them. That way, there are no charges to extradite them on. They can remain in the Gulag forever. Brilliant! They are anonymous to everyone except a few family members, so they can be quietly forgotten in their lifelong torture.
I hear no hue and cry about these remaining deportees. It rather looks as though Trump has won his battle. Does this mean that there will be more such deportations without due process?
In fact, if this new Big, Beautiful Bill passes, the Republicans will guarantee that Trump & Co. cannot be held in contempt of any court, that is, he can ignore any court order, and deport as many innocent people to foreign hellholes as he wants, with total impunity. And his MAGA cultists will cheer him on.