All of Us Means All of Us. Bring Kilmar Home.
This year’s NABTU Legislative Conference wasn’t just a gathering — it was a battle cry.
In a time when organized labor is under siege, with billionaires and bought-off politicians hoping to divide us by red and blue, we showed up in Washington, D.C., early this month, united in one color: union-strong.
We heard from NABTU leadership and a bipartisan group of congressional allies. And when the “orange messiah” — the chaos agent still casting a shadow over American politics — was mentioned, the boos echoed like thunder.
Deservedly so. While Donald Trump and his enablers are busy torching democratic norms, we’re out here doing the hard work of building this country, literally.
Our meetings with Senator Alex Padilla were clear-eyed and urgent. We discussed infrastructure, registered apprenticeships, and Davis–Bacon. We laid out what working families need, and why now is the time to deliver.
With Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who was as sharp and informed as ever, we didn’t just talk policy. We also talked about what it means to fight for democracy. Her message was simple and powerful: “Don’t agonize. Organize, and unionize.” Words to live by.
But let’s not pretend everything was business as usual.
A shadow hung over the conference — the wrongful deportation of our brother, SMART Local 100 apprentice Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Let’s call this what it is: a disgrace. Kilmar was ripped from his life, his union, and his family because of a bureaucratic screw-up.
Yet this administration, the same one that claims to stand with workers, has done nothing to make things right and bring him home. In fact, Trump’s people have dug in their heels instead, insisting that they won’t be lifting a finger to bring Kilmar back.
That’s not just a policy failure. That’s a betrayal of the rule of law, a betrayal of the constitution, and a betrayal of all union Americans.
“We are a movement built on solidarity — built on the belief that an injury to one is an injury to all.”
We are a movement built on solidarity — built on the belief that an injury to one is an injury to all. If it can happen to Kilmar, then any one of us could be quietly disappeared from the jobsite and deported immediately and without justice. If Kilmar isn’t safe, then none of us is safe.
So, we’re through asking. Now, we’re demanding. Bring our brother home now.
We are not a movement that plays favorites. We don’t check immigration status before we hand someone a hard hat. Kilmar was learning the trade, building his future, and contributing to society. That’s what we do in unions: We lift people up with union wages, union benefits, and union pride.
And when the system fails someone in our ranks, we fight like hell to make it right.
Some facts are due to those who would try to spin this and place the blame on Kilmar just for being here in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all immigrants in this country are naturalized citizens. Another quarter are permanent residents. They are our neighbors, our coworkers, our union brothers and sisters. They deserve the same protection and respect as anyone else. No exceptions. No excuses.
NABTU President Sean McGarvey said it loud and clear: “We’re not red. We’re not blue. We’re the building trades, the backbone of America.”
If you want to build a $5 billion data center, and if you want more six-figure careers with healthcare, retirement, and no college debt, you don’t call Elon Musk, McGarvey said. You call on the building trades.
You want America to actually work? You call us.
And “us” includes Kilmar.
We will not forget, and we will not back down until Kilmar is reunited with his family and his union brothers and sisters in Maryland.
Bring him home now.
WATCH & SHARE McGarvey’s message on Kilmar.
SEND a pre-written letter to your elected officials and tell them to demand Kilmar’s return to the U.S.