Democrats thought they’d found their perfect poster child for immigration reform.
They were dead wrong but kept clinging on.
But a Federal judge just humiliated Democrats with this brutal MS-13 takedown.
Democrats’ immigration poster boy gets reality check from federal judge
The immigration circus surrounding accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia finally came to an end Wednesday when Regional Deputy Chief Immigration Judge Philip Taylor rejected the gang member’s desperate attempt to reopen his deportation case.
Garcia’s high-priced legal team had been pulling out all the stops to keep their client in America, claiming he faced deportation to Uganda and needed asylum protection.
But Judge Taylor saw right through the charade and delivered a reality check that sent Garcia’s defenders into full damage control mode.
Here’s what makes this whole situation so embarrassing for the Democrats who championed Garcia’s case.
Back in March, when Garcia was initially deported to El Salvador, several elected Democrats actually flew down to Central America to make a big show of supporting this accused gang member.
They spent thousands in campaign funds to turn Garcia into some kind of immigration martyr – a victim of Trump’s "cruel" deportation policies.
These same Democrats who claim to care about public safety were literally advocating for an accused MS-13 member and human trafficker to stay in American communities.
Garcia’s lawyers tried every trick in the book to keep him here, arguing he could face persecution in El Salvador because rival gang Barrio-18 might target him.
At the time, his legal team claimed that Barrio-18, a rival gang of MS-13, threatened and extorted his family.¹
Think about that for a moment – they’re saying he’s too dangerous for El Salvador’s gangs but somehow safe enough for American neighborhoods.
The Trump administration wasn’t buying any of it.
The Department of Homeland Security celebrated Wednesday’s ruling, stating that Garcia would never again threaten innocent Americans as a gang member, trafficker, and predator.¹
Judge destroys Garcia’s asylum claims with devastating legal reasoning
Judge Taylor methodically dismantled every argument Garcia’s legal team threw at him.
When the lawyers claimed their client faced "imminent removal to Uganda," Taylor pointed out that the word "may is permissive" and "indicates to the Court that in sending this notification to Respondent’s counsel, the Department sought to convey that it reserved the right to remove him to Uganda, not necessarily that it intended to do so."¹
Garcia’s team also tried to argue he deserved asylum because he’d been questioned about gang membership while detained in El Salvador.
But Taylor noted that while "prison officials interrogated Respondent about his alleged gang membership and took pictures of his tattoos, they did not mistreat him during the interrogation."¹
Most devastating of all, the judge ruled that Garcia’s motion was "untimely" because it was filed nearly six years after initial litigation – well beyond the required 90-day deadline for reopening immigration cases.¹
The decision effectively ends Garcia’s ability to challenge his removal from the United States through the immigration courts.
Democrats’ immigration strategy backfires spectacularly
Look, here’s what this case really exposes about the Democrat approach to immigration.
These people are so desperate to oppose Trump’s America First policies that they’ll literally champion the rights of accused gang members and human traffickers.
Garcia has been accused of some of the most serious crimes you can imagine – human trafficking, domestic violence, and child predation.
Yet Democrats were willing to spend taxpayer money flying to El Salvador to advocate for this guy.
They turned him into a symbol of everything supposedly wrong with Trump’s immigration enforcement.
Now that their poster boy’s legal options have been exhausted, where are all those Democrats who made such a big show of supporting him?
Nowhere to be found, that’s where.
This is exactly the kind of case that shows why Americans elected Trump to secure our borders and remove dangerous criminals from our communities.
The Trump administration designated MS-13 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization specifically because of the threat these animals pose to American families.
Garcia represents everything that’s wrong with the old approach to immigration – endless legal challenges, activist lawyers, and Democrat politicians who care more about opposing Trump than protecting American citizens.
Judge Taylor’s decision sends a clear message that the days of gaming the immigration system to keep dangerous criminals in America are over.
Garcia will be deported, Democrats have egg on their faces, and American communities will be safer as a result.
The only question now is which other MS-13 members and human traffickers the Democrats will choose as their next immigration cause célèbre.
¹ Ryan King, "Judge rejects Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s bid to reopen case, lets removal order stand," New York Post, October 2, 2025.
