Former small city Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who left quite a mess for his successor at the Transportation Department, surprised many political observers recently by bowing out of both major 2026 statewide races in Michigan. He was widely expected to run for governor or United States Senate in his brand new 'home' state, which was seemingly selected because he determined that voters in his actual home state were too conservative to accommodate his ambitions. For him to move to bluer pastures, only to sidestep a pair of big opportunities, fueled new speculation that he once again has his eyes set on a larger prize. Being the chief executive of an upper Midwest state, or one of its Senators, is apparently insufficiently small potatoes for the ex-mayor, turned failed DNC chair candidate, turned failed presidential candidate, turned part-time Transportation Secretary and full-time Democratic pundit.
Buttigieg, who has cultivated a new, edgier algorithmic identity, has grown a beard and spiced up his signature consultant syntax with some profanity (like many Democrats these days), appears to be revving up for another shot at the presidency. This week, he found himself in -- surprise! -- Iowa, where he drew applause from a partisan audience for this little sermon about due process and the rule of law:
Mayor Pete on Kilmar Abrego Garcia: "They're saying...he's a criminal!"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 14, 2025
"No one person gets to decide that you are a criminal!” pic.twitter.com/45sz1uGtDk
Let me first acknowledge that he's of course correct that no single man or politician can simply declare someone else to be a criminal. We thankfully do have a system that rightly requires due process. But the case to which he's referring, that of "Maryland Father" Kilmar Abrego Garcia, isn't about anyone's politicized say-so. I'll also concede, as I have previously, that the Trump administration should not have deported Garcia to El Salvador specifically, under a standing judicial order. The administration even admitted this error in court documents. To rectify the mistake, I think Garcia should be returned to the US, processed, and immediately deported elsewhere. And that's not because President Trump, or any other individual, simply decided and asserted that Garcia is a criminal. He is a criminal, as has been adjudicated on multiple levels, by multiple judges.
First off, Garcia is, indisputably, an illegal immigrant. Entering the country illegally is a crime. Pete Buttigieg is welcome to continue to follow the lead of his party's extreme base and push for decriminalization. Like Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and other leftists, he endorsed that radical policy last time he ran for the White House as a "moderate:"
FLASHBACK: Kamala raised her hand in favor of *decriminalizing* illegal border crossings pic.twitter.com/VLcvvBQFmg
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 21, 2024
Second, two judges have adjudicated that Garcia is an MS-13 gang member. There is significant evidence backing up that finding. Two other courts granted Garcia's wife protective restraining orders against him, in light of his violent physical abuse. It's also worth noting that a convicted human smuggler admitted to federal authorities that he'd paid Garcia to illegally transport illegal immigrants across the United States on multiple occasions. Indeed, when Garcia was pulled over in Tennessee with eight people in the back (all without identification or luggage), the vehicle he was driving belonged to that very convicted human smuggler. In summary, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Democrats' extremely poorly-selected anti-deportation poster boy, has not been randomly or unjustly deemed a criminal by any politician. He was an illegal immigrant, having committed the crime of unlawful entry, with a removal order against him.
He has gone through multiple rounds of due process and court-related proceedings, due to his conduct and adjudicated membership in a foreign criminal gang. His wife presented credible and compelling evidence against him for violent assaults, resulting in granted restraining orders. And a convicted felon informed authorities that he paid Garcia to facilitate his human smuggling operation, an allegation backed by an on-camera traffic stop, featuring Garcia driving a load of unidentified people in a car owned by said felon. Those facts don't exist because Trump, or anyone else, spoke them into existence. They exist because of Garcia's own behavior. They're true. How much more process is this man due, especially as an illegal immigrant with little evident regard for our sovereignty laws, our anti-assault laws, and our anti-human trafficking laws? How would Buttigieg respond to this challenge?
DeSantis: "How did Clinton deport all these illegals? H*ll, even Obama… Clinton was in for 8 years, he deported [millions]. Did he give a trial? You wouldn't be able to do that."
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) May 14, 2025
pic.twitter.com/XM0kDTe2M2
I'd bet many of those deported millions wouldn't fit Buttigieg's apparent definition of a criminal these days. Here's another, unrelated, fair point. He'll probably rehearse an answer that's better than this humiliating mess, but he merits more scrutiny and accountability as a Biden cabinet member:
I don’t know how Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg can have national political careers going forward without answering what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it https://t.co/zRaRb8na5K
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) May 14, 2025
In every meeting, huh? That’s a lot of meetings & a lot of people. Everyone knew. https://t.co/IkwOqkImAM
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) May 14, 2025
I'll leave you with my recent radio segment on this subject:
https://megaphone.link/FOXM3380267266
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