Man 'Disappeared' by ICE Was on El Salvador Flight Manifest, Hacked Data Shows

They bother to spell out his full name, but don't bother explaining who he is.

"Ricardo Prada Vásquez was not on a government list of people sent to a mega prison in El Salvador. But hacked data shows he was booked on a flight to the country.

Ricardo Prada Vásquez, a Venezuelan man whose family says he was “disappeared” and who wasn’t included on a previously leaked government list of people sent to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador, was included on a private airline’s flight manifest to the country, according to hacked airline data obtained and analyzed by 404 Media."

Those are the first two paragraphs of the story, what do you think is missing that would help your comprehension of the situation?

These two paragraphs say nothing about who he is.

It doesn’t matter who he is.

The problem is that he hasn’t had an opportunity to plead his case.

Good law enforcement officers regularly make honest mistakes. Courts are a safeguard against this.

Imagine that you get caught up in an immigration raid. Maybe you were at a Mexican restaurant. ICE shows up and half the staff quickly sit at tables pretending to be customers. ICE arrests everyone, including you.

Will ICE let you go home to go look for your birth certificate? If your wife hires a lawyer what process will your lawyer use to present your birth certificate to ICE?

Due process and the rule of law protects you from the arbitrary power of the state.

It matters to me because I want to understand why he was sent to that prison.

I get it, you want someone to admit he was an undocumented immigrant, but sending an undocumented immigrant to an El Salvador prison without due process is repugnant. And, to unpack that further, sending prisoners to another country to wash your hands of them and how they are treated in captivity is repugnant in all cases, regardless of the crime. "Why he was sent to that prison" can be answered simply with "because this administration said so," and that is the problem that needs addressed, not whatever this man may or may not have done.