Despite the Democrats’ truly heroic efforts, their propaganda campaign on behalf of “Maryland father” Kilmar Abrego Garcia is failing. It turns out that the public is unimpressed by congressional junkets on behalf of a man who has been revealed to be a known illegal alien and an alleged wife-beater and MS-13 gang member. Therefore, the Dems are pivoting to a new “victim,” an “immigrant” named Ricardo Prada Vásquez, whom the administration caused to “disappear.” This is a loaded term, with Argentinian “junta” connotations of murder. The truth, of course, is different.

The headlines are consistent:

• The New York Times: “An Immigrant Held in U.S. Custody ‘Simply Disappeared’”
• The New Republic: “ICE Deported an Immigrant. Now, No One Can Find Him.”
• The Daily Beast: “Food Driver Deported After McDonald’s Delivery Goes Wrong”
• Independent: “A Venezuelan delivery driver was ‘disappeared’ after making a wrong turn. The Trump administration claims they know where he is”
• Common Dreams: “Family and Friends Say Ricardo Prada Vásquez, Taken by ICE and Not Seen Since, ‘Has Simply Disappeared’”

That’s the narrative: An “immigrant” (impliedly legal) has now become an American “desaparecidos” (aka, a “disappeared” and probably murdered). To appreciate this defamatory narrative, you must go back to the decade from 1974 to 1983, when a military junta controlled Argentina.

But before I begin, let’s be clear on our terms. Leftists define all their opponents as “right-wing.” The appellations of “left wing” and “right wing” are a vestige of the French Revolution. In the French Parlement, right before the Terror began, the revolutionaries sat on the speaker’s left, while the monarchists sat on the speaker’s right. However—and this is important—both sides were totalitarian, believing in an all-powerful state.

Meanwhile, at roughly the same time, the American Revolution had successfully concluded with a truly revolutionary concept: individual liberty made possible by a much less powerful state.

Since the late 18th century, the real tug-of-war in the world hasn’t been between left and right, but between individual liberty and totalitarianism. However, after WWII, the communist totalitarians scored the biggest propaganda coup of all time: They recast the Nazis, a socialist totalitarian organization as “right wing” and then applied the same appellation to everyone with whom they disagreed, including Americans opposed to statism.

That gets us to what happened in Argentina, when the military junta was described as “right wing” versus Peronism’s “left wing” policies. In fact, both were totalitarian. And while the media wasn’t much troubled by brutal Peronism, and even elevated Evita Peron to saintly status, it was deeply troubled by the junta. So, we heard a great deal about the junta’s undoubtedly brutal repression, including the fact that it murdered or “disappeared” (which actually meant murdered) some 22,000-30,000 Argentinian citizens.

In other words, the Argentinian junta attacked its own citizens, openly or covertly murdering them. It was an evil thing to do, right up there with any other totalitarian dictatorship. This is what the leftists imply happened to Ricardo Prada Vásquez.

However, equating legal deportation procedures with totalitarian murder is equally evil. To begin with, Vásquez is not an American citizen or even a legal alien. Instead, he entered this country illegally under the Biden administration. His mistake was to leave America (allegedly making a wrong turn in Detroit) under the Trump administration and then to try to get back in. This time, when he entered America illegally, he properly appeared in the system as an illegal alien.

More than that, he popped up as an illegal alien with a Tren de Aragua affiliation. Moreover, he’s not “disappeared,” whether that means whereabouts unknown or murdered. As with other Venezuelans who are members of an organization sent here by a foreign power to destabilize America, he has been placed in El Salvadoran custody:

FALSE. Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez is a Venezuelan national and confirmed member of Tren de Aragua, entered the United States on Nov. 29, 2024 at the Brownsville, Texas Port of Entry via a CBP One app appointment. Prada was paroled into the US and served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge.

On Jan. 15, Prada was encountered at the Detroit Windsor Tunnel in Detroit, Michigan attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada and was referred to secondary inspection. Further investigation resulted in Prada being designated a public safety threat as a confirmed member of TdA and in violation of his conditions of admission. Prada was apprehended and transferred to ICE Michigan for detention. On Feb. 27, an immigration judge ordered Prada removed from the U.S.

On March 15, Prada was removed to El Salvador.

To recap:

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a “Maryland father.” He is an illegal alien, an alleged wife-beater, and an MS-13 gang member. The illegal alien status means he’s automatically deportable unless he’s a legitimate refugee (which he is not), and the alleged criminal status moves him up the list. Americans understand this.

Ricardo Prada Vásquez is not an “immigrant delivery driver.” He is an illegal alien and an alleged member of Tren de Aragua. As with Garcia, he is deportable, with his alleged gang affiliation moving him up the list of people who should immediately be removed from America. The implication that he’s been murdered, junta style, is a gross defamation against our government.

It is to be hoped that the Dems, rather than profiting from their lies, find themselves hoist by their own petard as the American people become increasingly resentful of their solicitude for violent illegal alien gang members, as well as their lies about the government.

X screen grab.