You’d suppose White Home deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller’s plate can be full, what with cosplaying Slenderman and making an attempt to cowl up his ever-receding hairline. You’d additionally suppose he’d be comfortable, as his lifetime dedication to xenophobia and racism is lastly paying off because the Trump administration gears as much as deport hundreds of thousands.
However Miller will not be comfortable since you individuals received’t cease whining about how Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to a Salvadorean jail, is entitled to due course of. You recognize who didn’t get due course of, in keeping with Miller? The Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Right here’s Miller over at X, Elon Musk’s Nazi bar: “If you were an American falsely accused of wrongdoing on January 6th it wasn’t merely difficult to get ‘due process,’ it was impossible. The entire system was rigged against you. All of it. Those persecuted Americans could only dream of the ‘due process’ afforded illegal aliens.”
Hoo boy. The place to even begin? Let’s depend the myriad ways in which the kidnapping of Abrego Garcia will not be remotely much like something that occurred to the Jan. 6 rioters.
1. The Jan. 6 rioters have been truly charged with crimes.
Abrego Garcia was deported regardless of there being no prices towards him. The Trump administration has already admitted he was deported in error, a factor they’re now making an attempt to stroll again. In distinction, the Jan. 6 insurrectionists have been criminally charged as a part of the largest investigation in FBI historical past. That investigation led to the arrest of at the very least 1,583 individuals.
That’s not proof of some nefarious plot to deprive the insurrectionists of due course of. In truth, it’s the other. There have been roughly 10,000 individuals on the Capitol grounds that day, that means practically 85% of the rioters by no means even confronted arrest, a lot much less a trial or a conviction or a deportation.
2. The insurrectionists obtained trials and plea offers.
Out of these 1,583 arrests, 1,270 have been convicted, with 1,009, or 79%, pleading responsible. 2 hundred twenty-one of the Jan. 6 defendants have been convicted after a trial, with a further 40 convicted after stipulated trials, the place a defendant admits to info with out agreeing they represent against the law. That variety of plea offers might sound excessive, but it surely’s decrease than the everyday price in federal courts, the place 89.5% of defendants pleaded responsible in fiscal yr 2022.
Abrego Garcia has not been arrested. He has not been convicted. He didn’t get to have a trial. He didn’t get to make a plea deal. He was deported illegally, and the administration refuses to deliver him again. Miller is aware of full effectively these items aren’t remotely comparable.
3. No person manufactured proof towards the Jan. 6 criminals.
It’s not simply that Trump posted a doctored {photograph}, photoshopping “MS-13” onto Abrego Garcia’s knuckles. There’s additionally White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s now-routine behavior of straight-up mendacity to justify the administration’s actions. Earlier this month, Leavitt referred to as Abrego Garcia a “leader” of MS-13, however when requested to supply particulars, couldn’t be bothered, saying, “There’s a lot of evidence, and the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have that evidence, and I saw it this morning.”
Final week, Leavitt accused Abrego Garcia of being detained on suspicion of human trafficking, when the fact was that he was stopped for rushing and veering out of his lane.
In distinction, there was no have to manufacture proof towards the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. A whole lot of them filmed themselves rioting on the Capitol. A lot bragged about it on social media. And, in fact, the nation watched every little thing unfold in actual time.
4. Many Jan. 6 rioters already had felony data.
Not less than 159 convicted insurrectionists had earlier felony data. We’re not speaking one thing like jaywalking right here. NPR discovered that dozens had prices or convictions for critical crimes like manslaughter, rape, drug trafficking, home violence, sexual assault of a minor, and manufacturing of kid sexual abuse materials.
Abrego Garcia has no felony file in the US or El Salvador. He was arrested as soon as in 2019 by a now-disgraced cop who later pleaded responsible to misconduct. That cop’s proof for Abrego Garcia’s membership in MS-13? He had a Chicago Bulls cap, which the officer stated was “indicative of the Hispanic gang culture.” After all, it’s additionally indicative of liking the Chicago Bulls, which isn’t truly against the law.
5. The Supreme Courtroom gave a whole bunch of the Jan. 6 rioters a bit of deal with.
Roughly 350 of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists have been charged below a federal felony legislation that makes it a felony to hinder official proceedings. You’d suppose {that a} riot that attempted to dam the certification of electoral votes and despatched members of Congress into hiding would depend as an obstruction of an official continuing, however you’d be unsuitable. In 2024, the Supreme Courtroom dominated that the availability utilized solely to proof tampering, not rioting.
Enjoyable reality: This was additionally {one of the} prices towards Trump, not that it issues anymore.
6. Republicans have been very involved about jail circumstances for the insurrectionists.
Led by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican members of Congress made a 2023 pilgrimage to see 20 insurrectionists housed on the D.C. jail. Greene howled a couple of “two-tier justice system” and declared the 20 have been “political prisoners,” which is identical nonsense pushed by Trump. These weren’t individuals who have been being persecuted for his or her beliefs. And 17 of these 20 have been charged with assaulting legislation enforcement officers.
Greene additionally ostentatiously apprehensive concerning the circumstances on the jail, saying that inmates had been threatened and denied medical care. She’s appropriate that circumstances on the jail have been dangerous for a very long time, however her ardour for honest remedy of the incarcerated extends solely to Jan. 6 protesters.
In terms of Abrego Garcia’s wrongful imprisonment in a notoriously violent international jail, Greene’s stance is that it’s “dangerously close to treason” for individuals to advocate for Abrego Garcia’s return. So, it’s treason to demand that the federal government comply with the legal guidelines and provides Abrego Garcia the due course of to which he’s entitled, but it surely’s not treason to attempt to overturn an election with violence. Bought it.
7. The Jan. 6 rioters had Trump of their nook.
On the marketing campaign path in 2024, Trump made no secret of the truth that if he have been elected, he’d pardon the rioters, who he stated have been “hostages.” He confirmed up at fundraisers on their behalf. He described the violence perpetrated by his supporters as a show of “spirit and faith and love,” and stated he’d by no means seen something like “the love in the air” that day.
Trump was so smitten that he joined the Washington, D.C. jail inmates in tune, type of. Trump recited the “Pledge of Allegiance,” which was then layered over the “J6 Prison Choir” singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” FBI Director Kash Patel produced this monstrosity, however when he was requested about it throughout his affirmation hearings, he instantly couldn’t recall a factor about his involvement.
8. The Jan. 6 insurrectionists have been pardoned.
One among Trump’s first official acts of 2025 was to pardon his merry band of treasonists, together with individuals who had violently assaulted cops. So, not solely did they obtain all of the due course of owed to them as felony defendants, however in addition they acquired the reward of a clear slate.
For some defendants, that clear slate was extra-generous. A number of had been charged with extra, unrelated crimes, reminiscent of weapons prices, that turned up throughout investigations into their actions on Jan. 6. In at the very least seven circumstances, the DOJ then argued that Trump’s pardon lined the unrelated crimes, because the crime wouldn’t have been found however for the Jan. 6 investigation. Fairly the deal!
9. The rioters weren’t shipped off to a most safety jail in El Salvador.
In addition to the half the place they’re not burdened with any felony prices, the Jan. 6 rioters are, effectively, right here. They weren’t transported to El Salvador at nighttime. They’re not being saved in El Salvador in defiance of a Supreme Courtroom order. And in contrast to what the White Home is saying about Abrego Garcia, senior officers within the Biden administration didn’t mock Jan. 6 prisoners and brag that they have been by no means coming house.
It’s actually unclear what extra due course of Miller thinks the Jan. 6 defendants ought to have acquired. His actual criticism is that he doesn’t imagine they need to have ever been charged, whatever the proof. In terms of Abrego Garcia, nonetheless, Miller doesn’t imagine in due course of in any respect.
