We do not elect kings in Kansas or the United States.
We do not dole out justice through lynch mobs or popularity contests either.
Yet there U.S. Rep. Ron Estes stood in a picture from the U.S. embassy in El Salvador, lending tacit approval to a mob that has all but condemned Maryland father Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to death, at the behest of a would-be tyrant in Washington, D.C.
The facts of the case are simple and damning. Garcia was sent to a gulag without due proxies of law, and President Donald Trump’s administration has defied a 9-0 Supreme Court order in keeping him there. The White House has attempted to smear the man in absentia, with all the crudeness of those who used to accuse Black boys of taking liberties with white women.
This, apparently, is fine and dandy with Estes.
El #EmbajadorDuncan dio ayer la bienvenida a El Salvador a la delegación encabezada por el Congresista Jason Smith, quien visita el país para fortalecer los lazos bilaterales y dialogar sobre iniciativas que promueven el desarrollo económico y la cooperación mutua. pic.twitter.com/Zj0o8OSiOJ
— Embajada EEUU en ES (@USEmbassySV) April 16, 2025
On Tuesday, Republican Reps. Jason Smith of Missouri and Riley Moore of West Virginia posed proudly in pictures from CECOT — the notorious El Salvadoran mega-prison where the United States has shipped hundreds without due process. Estes did not post such pictures. However, the 4th District congressman stood in a lineup with Smith and Moore in an image posted Wednesday by the embassy, along with Reps. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Kennedy of Utah, Carol Miller of West Virginia and Claudia Tenney of New York.
Credit must go at this point to independent journalist and Kansas Reflector friend Marisa Kabas, who first reported about the Republicans’ visit. She reached out to the lawmakers for comment, hearing back only from Hearn’s office: “We cannot confirm or comment on the Congressman’s location for security purposes.” Tenney subsequently tweeted that she had also toured CECOT.
I reached out via email to Estes spokesman Roman Rodriguez to ask whether the representative had gone to the prison or was concerned about Garcia’s welfare. He did not respond.
Prison pipeline
We cannot close our eyes to the brutal reality of CECOT or El Salvador’s government.
According to Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International: “El Salvador is implementing a systematic state policy of massive and arbitrary deprivation of liberty. After three years, more than 85,000 individuals remain behind bars without sufficient admissible evidence, the victims of a judicial system now transformed into a tool for collective punishment and widespread repression. Attempts to export this policy to the situation of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the United States highlights the lack of protection and the risk that hundreds of thousands of people now face of having their human rights violated by not one, not two, but three different states.”
You can’t confuse this gulag with any kind of American facility. In our country, attorneys and law enforcement must still abide by the law. Not in El Salvador. Conditions there go beyond mere cruelty.
Officials have decided to create a concentration camp, one in which prisoners are denied due process and tortured.
In the words of Human Rights Watch: “People held in CECOT, as well as in other prisons in El Salvador, are denied communication with their relatives and lawyers, and only appear before courts in online hearings, often in groups of several hundred detainees at the same time. The Salvadoran government has described people held in CECOT as ‘terrorists,’ and has said that they ‘will never leave.’ Human Rights Watch is not aware of any detainees who have been released from that prison.”
Juanita Goebertus Estrada, director of the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch, said that while the mega-prison was built more recently than other facilities in the country, he understands that conditions are similar to other prisons in the country.
“This includes cases of torture, ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, severe violations of due process and inhumane conditions, such as lack of access to adequate healthcare and food,” he said.
No one should go to such a facility. Not even the most notorious criminals, of any country or any citizenship status. No one.
Trump temper tantrum
Regardless of pushback from courts at every level, President Donald Trump has persisted in his quest to send immigrants out of this country and to the most brutal and dehumanizing conditions.
No matter their ideology or party, our elected officials must step up and speak out against such authoritarian violence. Estes, during his visit to El Salvador, had every opportunity to do so. He could have joined Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen in meeting with Garcia and urging his immediate release from detention. He could have spoken up for the rule of law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as codified by the United Nations.
Instead, he posed for the picture and made no public comment. He lent his silent assent to a governmental lynching.
Garcia may have been a gang member. He may have beaten his wife. He may have leaked the COVID-19 virus from a lab and caused Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis to bomb at the box office. Any or all of these stories may be true. But he has been convicted of none of them. If the Trump administration actually believes such accusations against Garcia, bring him back and criminally charge him.
Due process of law means due process for everyone, citizens and noncitizens alike. Respect for the rule of law means respecting all court decisions, even those with which you disagree. Without following these precepts, our democratic society crumbles. You support the ruthless mob, willing to hang a man on mere suspicion.
Estes might be OK with that. On his website, he touts support for a bill that would strip power from judges. The same figures tasked with defending the rights of everyone.
Perhaps he has decided to declare fealty to a king rather than support a mere president.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
Last updated 3:34 a.m., Apr. 21, 2025
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