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You are not accurately modeling this view.
They absolutely see a difference between Garcia and a citizen.
What worries them is that the process afforded Garcia is not constructed in such a way that it must differentiate between Garcia and the citizen.
This is the thing daezor pointed out above. The process needed to show someone isn't a citizen isn't the same thing as the due process needed in a criminal trial. There's no serious dispute that Garcia isn't a citizen, and if he was one, he'd have been able to present the information by now.
I entirely agree that the "due process" we're talking about here is something very different than that at a criminal trial.
But what I think you're ignoring is that while Garcia is not a citizen, he also wasn't supposed to be sent to El Salvador and there was no opportunity for him to assert that. If he has no chance to say "Hey judge, this shouldn't be happening because I have a no-removal-to-El-salvador order" then I infer that I won't have a chance to say "Hey judge, I'm a citizen."
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The news keeps referring to him as a "Maryland man" who was "mistakenly sent to El Salvador." I would be shocked if more than half of those aware of this story knew he was an illegal immigrant.
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