They say justice is blind. Maybe. But in America, justice sure as heck knows how to squint—especially when a brown face walks into view.
Case in point: Paul Akeo and his wife Christy, two nice folks from Michigan who got nabbed south of the border after a resort tiff went legal. Mexican prosecutors called it fraud. The Akeos called it a vacation gone bad. Either way, they were hauled into jail like cartel thugs. For 30 long days, they sat in a Cancun cell.
But then, like a scene out of a Tom Clancy novel, the cavalry rolled in. A Congressman. A White House envoy. Fast-track diplomacy. Four weeks later—boom—freedom. Welcome home, heroes.
Now shift your eyes to the other side of the justice ledger: Kilmar Abrego Garcia. A Salvadoran man living in Maryland. Legally. He had an immigration court order blocking deportation because sending him home would be a death sentence. Gangland territory. Real deal danger.
So what did the U.S. government do? It deported him anyway—by mistake. Yes, mistake. As in “Oops, sorry about that.”
Now he’s rotting in a Salvadoran hellhole, locked up in a gang-infested prison the locals call a tomb. No trial. No charges. Just a whisper of “MS-13” and a shrug from Uncle Sam. Even though there’s zero evidence he was ever in the gang. Not one charge. Not one conviction. Not one damn photo.
The Trump administration threw up its hands and said, “Nothing we can do now.” The Supreme Court disagreed and has now told the government to get him back—now.
So here’s the gut-punch: Three people jailed abroad. Two get a jet, a handshake, and a headline. The other gets tossed into a cage because his name ends in a vowel and he wasn’t born on Main Street, USA.
If Paul Akeo was Pablo Acosta, would there have been a press conference? If Kilmar was Kyle from Kansas, would he still be in that Salvadoran cell?
This isn’t about politics. This is about the color of due process—and the gutless hypocrisy that stains our so-called values.
Justice isn’t just blind. In America, it’s selective, spineless, and sure as heck bilingual when it wants to be.