One of the most important articles written since Donald Trump was sworn for his second term is from Roger Parloff at Lawfare who takes a careful look at the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. I want you to read this article, but I also want you to share it with your social networks. It’s vital that as many people as possible understand it.

Abrego Garcia is accused by the Trump administration of being a member of the MS-13 gang and, since the Department of State recently designated MS-13 as a terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia is also accused of being a terrorist. Both claims are assuredly false, and Parloff meticulously explains why the claims have zero credibility.

When you learn the history and details of this case, you will be staggered and absolutely incensed by what has happened to Abrego Garcia.

His troubles began not with MS-13, but a different rival gang that has a major presence in his home country of El Salvador: the 18th Street Gang, also known as Barrio 18. Abrego Garcia’s mother ran a business out of her home which made “pupusas—a Salvadoran stuffed tortilla dish.” It grew successful enough to attract the attention of Barrio 18, members of which began extorting the family for money. Not only that, but they repeatedly broke into their home and tried to recruit Abrago Garcia’s older brother Cesar into their gang. They threatened to rape his sister, and their monetary demands escalated.

The family sent Cesar to the United States where he eventually gained citizenship. But the gang then tried to recruit Kilmar. His family shut down the business and moved twice, but they couldn’t shake the gang, so they sent Kilmar to join his brother where he had settled in Maryland. Unfortunately, Kilmar entered the country illegally rather than going through the asylum process.

He began working in construction. He met a woman.

In around 2018, Abrego Garcia moved in with his then-girlfriend, Jennifer, a U.S. citizen, according to the declaration she filed in connection with Abrego Garcia’s recent legal troubles. She had two children by a prior relationship. Each has special needs: One has epilepsy and the other, autism. In late 2018, Jennifer became pregnant with a third child by Abrego Garcia. Due to a long-standing medical condition, it was a high-risk pregnancy.

On March 28, 2019—during the first Trump administration—Abrego Garcia drove one of Jennifer’s children to the babysitter and the second to school, before dropping Jennifer at work. She was then five months pregnant. Abrego Garcia then drove to a Home Depot parking lot in Hyattsville, Maryland, to look for construction work, as he had several times before.

He was arrested along with three other people who were there seeking work. Soon he was in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The Prince George County cops who handled his arrest had one explanation for why he and the others were picked up, and ICE had another. The county cops claimed they had been arrested because they were “loitering outside of a Home Depot,” and that Kilmar “was arrested in the company of other ranking gang members and was confirmed to be a ranking member of the MS-13 gang by a proven and reliable source.” Contrasting with this, ICE filed paperwork claiming they were arrested “in connection with a murder investigation.” The immigration judge noted the disparity but found the gang affiliation allegation credible anyway.

The only evidence offered beyond an anonymous source that Kilmar was a member of MS-13 was that was he “wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie.” Moreover, the source claimed Kilmar belonged to a Long Island chapter of the gang, but he had never lived on Long Island. With no meaningful way to contest these allegations, Kilmar was held in detention. While there he and his pregnant girlfriend got married.

He then requested asylum based on the threats he and his family had faced from the Barrio 18 gang, and while this wasn’t granted because he had not applied within one year of arriving in the country, he was still granted relief. Technically, he was given a “withholding of removal” which meant that he was released and could stay in the country provided he regularly checked in with immigration officials, which he did. This also meant that the government was not allowed to deport him to El Salvador.

In 2019, his child was born but, like his two step children, with significant disabilities. He was deaf in one ear and diagnosed with autism. Some reports say he is non-verbal.

Also during this period, according to the complaint, Abrego Garcia had become a union member. As of March 12, he was employed full time as a first-year sheet metal apprentice and was pursuing his vocational license at the University of Maryland.

But on March 12, “while driving with his disabled five year old in the backseat, Abrego Garcia was pulled over by ICE officers, apparently without a warrant.” He was detained and then flown to El Salvador despite a court ruling that he could not be deported there. He was placed in CECOT, a Terrorism Confinement Center maximum security prison filled with hardened gang members, including members of Barrio 18.

That is where he remains today. Members of the Trump administration have repeatedly justified his detention there by falsely calling him a gang member and a terrorist, and claiming that he was here illegally which is not true.

All of this would be bad enough, but despite being ordered by both a federal district court judge and the Supreme Court to retrieve Kilmar from El Salvador, the Trump administration refuses to do so. They admit that there was an order barring his deportation to El Salvador but say they can’t get him back and the courts have no power to compel them to even try. Then, on Monday, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, visited with Trump at the White House and also accused Kilmar of being a gang member and a terrorist. He said it was “preposterous” to ask him to send a terrorist back to the United States, suggesting it would require him to “smuggle” Kilmar past the border.

But as bad as all this is, it’s peanuts compared to what Trump had to say. In the single most disturbing display since he was reelected, Trump asked the Bukele to build several more Terrorism Confinement Centers to house U.S. citizens.

Trump also told reporters Monday that he was open to deporting U.S. citizens if they had committed violent, criminal acts.

“If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We’re studying the laws right now. Pam [Bondi, the attorney general] is studying. If we can do that, that’s good.”

“You are helping us out, and we appreciate it,” Trump told Bukele on Monday. He also praised El Salvador’s president for constructing the CECOT prison complex.

“I said, can you build some more of them, please?” Trump said, suggesting that he wanted to ramp up deportations to El Salvador.

Needless to say, U.S. citizens cannot legally be deported. The only exception I can think of is if a U.S. citizen is credibly accused of  committing a crime in another country and the government decides to honor an extradition request. As long as Attorney General Pam Bondi studies the question, she will not will not find some other legal way to ship U.S. citizens to El Salvador or any place else.

But it doesn’t seem that this actually matters necessarily because the administration’s position is that they can remove people in error or in defiance of court orders and, once removed, they cannot be compelled by the Courts or any other institution to bring them back, This is because they cannot be compelled to engage in any specific act of diplomacy or foreign policy since those are the exclusive preserves of the Executive Branch.

Additionally, since the Supreme Court ruled last year that the office of the presidency cannot commit a crime if it is done in the pursuit of normal job responsibilities, it seems that Trump cannot be held legally accountable even for deporting U.S. citizens. He could be impeached and removed from office, of course, but the Republicans have taken a pass twice already on that option, despite airtight cases against him.

What this means is that Trump intends to continue violating the law and will most likely escalate to deporting U.S. citizens. The courts can try to stop this by, for example, holding executive branch officials below the president in contempt, but Trump can simply pardon them. There is nothing to stop him unless the Republicans in Congress decide to stop him.

At this point, the Democrats can no longer treat Trump with any deference. The entire House Democratic Caucus should draw up articles of impeachment and seek to introduce them. The Senate Democrats should put a hold on everything until hearings are granted. Everything must stop until this is resolved.

This is the most serious threat we have seen since the Civil War.