Meanwhile, get ready for a replay of one of the 2000s greatest hits— rendition and torture in foreign prisons:
In the new court filing, Abrego described being the first person off an airplane in El Salvador after the Trump administration flew him there with more than 200 men on March 15. He recalled bright lights illuminating the airfield and cameras trained on him while officials forcefully guided him — shackled in chains — to a bus. The next day, Bukele triumphantly circulated cinematically edited videos of the deportees being handed over to Salvadoran authorities.
The officials repeatedly struck Abrego in the head, his lawyers wrote, summarizing his account. He observed a U.S. immigration agent communicating with the Salvadoran officials “to confirm the identities of the Salvadoran nationals on board before the bus departed,” the lawyers continued.
“Upon arrival at CECOT, the detainees were greeted by a prison official who stated, ‘Welcome to CECOT. Whoever enters here doesn’t leave,’” according to the account. “Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was then forced to strip, issued prison clothing, and subjected to physical abuse including being kicked in the legs with boots and struck on his head and arms to make him change clothes faster. His head was shaved with a zero razor, and he was frog-marched to cell 15, being struck with wooden batons along the way.”
“By the following day, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia had visible bruises and lumps all over his body,” his lawyers continued.
Abrego said he shared a cell with 20 other people, who were forced to kneel overnight, “with guards striking anyone who fell from exhaustion.”
“During this time, Plaintiff Abrego Garcia was denied bathroom access and soiled himself,” according to the account. “The detainees were confined to metal bunks with no mattresses in an overcrowded cell with no windows, bright lights that remained on 24 hours a day, and minimal access to sanitation.”
His lawyers also described “psychological torture,” with prison officials telling Abrego he would be moved to cells with gang members. Abrego indicated he witnessed violence among inmates in those cells, with prison guards declining to intervene.
That’s from a court filing by Kilmar Abrego Garcia and it’s harrowing. The sick DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, called this a “sob story.”
Look, we’ve been here before. In the Global War On Terror, we kidnapped people and sent them to black sites and foreign prisons to be tortured. It was ostensibly to get “intelligence” but really it was designed to terrorize Muslims. It was one of the most shameful recent episodes in our history. (There have been so many in the past…)
There is no doubt in my mind that the huge concentration camp industry we will build with this massive warchest will produce torture and death of prisoners. It’s what they are designed for. And they will produce the results they are looking for: terrorizing the population into total capitulation.
If you build it they will use it.