When I became a federal prosecutor, I was surprised to learn that an important part of my job would be protecting the rights of criminal defendants. Once invested with the coercive power of government, however, you quickly realize that our freedoms depend on the fairness and honesty of law enforcement and government lawyers. Under the Justice Department, I worked for during four different administrations, protecting our freedoms by respecting procedural rights was a government lawyer’s first duty.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are pictured conducting an arrest in Chicago as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants.
I am now in mourning. The government’s appalling behavior in the Abrego Garcia case is the most shocking example of the rot at the top of this Justice Department. You may not care about Abrego Garcia’s fate, but if you care about freedom, you will care intensely about his case. The facts are simple. A judge determined in 2019 that the government could not remove Garcia to El Salvador, his home country, because a gang had threatened to kill him.
On March 15, however, the government arrested Garcia and flew him to a notorious terrorist prison in El Salvador without any process whatsoever. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court held unanimously that the United States must “facilitate” his release from El Salvadoran custody and provide him with the legal process the government admits he’s entitled to. Garcia has no criminal history, and his wife desperately wants him back in the U.S.
Governments make mistakes, including doozies like this one. Any responsible government would repair the harm and make sure nothing like this happens again. If Garcia is such a danger, the government can prove that to a judge.
Instead, the Justice Department is stonewalling the courts. Despite the Supreme Court’s order, Attorney General Pam Bondi said flatly that Garcia “is not coming back to our country.” The White House press secretary accused those speaking up for Garcia’s rights of defending “an illegal foreign terrorist gang member” — in other words, no one should care about depriving “bad” people of their rights. The president has disingenuously insisted the United States can’t tell El Salvador to return Garcia, even though its president seems willing to do anything he asks. The department’s recent responses to the trial court’s orders have been so evasive that the judge is considering holding the government in contempt.
I pity the department lawyer who had to appear initially in court to argue against Garcia’s rights. He was honest enough to admit that the deportation was illegal. The department, unable to tolerate his honesty, fired him. Channeling Stalin, Stephen Miller even described him as a “saboteur” on Fox News.
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Abrego Garcia’s case is hardly unique. On April 16, a federal judge found probable cause that the government should be held in criminal contempt for its handling of mass deportations to El Salvador’s notorious prison. The court’s 46-page opinion details how the government not only ignored its order to afford deportees basic due process but also publicly “boasted” about its defiance “deliberately and gleefully.”
If all this weren’t chilling enough, the president is now floating the idea of sending American citizens to prison in El Salvador, where U.S. courts couldn’t reach them. The Garcia case is not about getting tough on immigration so much as neutering the courts and strangling their respect for individuals’ procedural rights.
I was always proud to announce at the beginning of every hearing that I represented the United States. Although far from perfect, the United States was the most inspiring client in the world. No longer. Unless Department of Justice leadership respects the rule of law again, we will have lost what makes America great.
Scott Williams
Scott E. Williams was a federal prosecutor in Oklahoma City for more than 20 years. Before his retirement in September 2024, he oversaw evaluations of all 93 U.S. Attorneys’ offices as an assistant director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: DOJ rotting from the top down under Trump administration | Opinion
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