The Hidden Agenda Behind Garcia’s Disappearance Commentary
The Hidden Agenda Behind Garcia’s Disappearance
Edited by: Alanah Vargas | JURIST Staff, US
This commentary contrasts the author’s late Godfather Romeo Horton’s rescue from political imprisonment in Liberia with the Trump administration's deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. The author argues that the US government has the authority to return Garcia to the US while criticizing the Trump administration’s expansion of inhumane deportation policies and denial of due process rights.

President Trump said during an Oval Office meeting April 14 that it would be up to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to decide whether mistakenly deported man Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia would be allowed back to the United States. President Bukele responded by stating that he did not “have the power to return him” and asked how he could possibly “smuggle a terrorist” back to the United States. Both Trump and Bukele are spouting nonsense for reasons similar to the experience of my late Godfather Romeo Horton in Liberia.

Romeo was my father’s good friend from Liberia. The two met while studying at Morehouse College and remained lifelong friends, so much so that my parents made him my godfather. Romeo was a high-ranking official who founded the Bank of Liberia and helped to create the Economic Community of West African States. In 1980, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe staged a violent coup d’état in Liberia during which Romeo was taken prisoner. The military then marched Romeo naked through the streets of Monrovia, and jailed him in a hellhole prison where he was held without trial.

Fearing for Romeo’s life, my father, Griffith J. Davis, called on former Morehouse president Benjamin E. Mays to help rescue Romeo. Fortunately, President Mays maintained close relations with President Jimmy Carter and expressed his concern for Romeo’s safety to the US president. President Carter then sought help from a former American Ambassador to Liberia to find Romeo.

Romeo recounted being held in a pitch dark overcrowded cell packed with other male prisoners. One day, as the story goes, the cell door opened, allowing a beam of blinding light to stream in. A soldier stood in the prison doorway and yelled, “Where is Romeo Horton?” Romeo shouldered his way through a sea of prisoners, from the back of the cell to the front where the soldier stood. He declared, “I am here.” The soldier gave him a single glance before closing the door, casting the prisoners back into darkness.

Three days later, a different soldier came to the cell calling for Romeo. To his surprise, the soldier released him from the dark cell. Romeo then boarded a flight out of Liberia and returned to the United States where he lived near Philadelphia until he died.

Putting this into perspective, Romeo was a Liberian detained by the Liberian government, just like Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen detained by the El Salvador government. The United States had an Ambassador to Liberia just the way it has a current Ambassador to El Salvador.  The former US president instructed the US Ambassador to work with the Liberian government to return Romeo to the US, much the same way President Trump could instruct the current US Ambassador to work with the El Salvadoran government to get Garcia out of CECOT.

What you saw play out in the Oval Office between Bukele and Trump was, put simply, a lie. Especially considering what was done for my late Godfather Romeo Horton, may he rest in peace. Beyond Garcia, this American Gulag article prompted my “aha!” moment.

For foreign nationals, the Trump administration is revamping the 54-country rendition torture regime under Bush II. You may remember my three-part commentary series Return of the Torture Monsters published on JURIST. Particularly, the second commentary in the series linking to an article about Condoleezza Rice defending the Bush II torture regime. In essence, the Trump administration is working to expand the Bush era War on Terror machine in that the US government has shipped off many deportees to various third countries—not just to El Salvador! As in my Godfather Romeo Horton’s case, the president still has the power to bring home all the deportees. The US government could then grant them due process rights the way a civilized nation should.
Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.
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