There are a slew of legal challenges to Trump’s war on immigrants: there are people illegally sent to Nayib Bukele’s concentration camp, most notably Kilmar Abrego Garcia (whom Chris Van Hollen managed to meet yesterday); people sent to CECOT with no due process (including people with pending asylum claims and others picked up by mistake); grad students targeted for free speech; grad students targeted for low-level run-ins with the law; a US-born citizen, Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, detained for unlawful entry but since released; and at least three US citizens informed they must self-deport within seven days because their parole had been withdrawn.
Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos is a fairly unique case. He was arrested to great fanfare in March, with Pam Bondi boasting over and over she had caught one of the top leaders of MS-13.
He was arrested not — as Bondi suggested — based off probable cause he was the top leader of MS-13. Rather, he was arrested based on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant and weapons purportedly found in a plain view search of his house, for which he was charged with possession of a firearm by an alien.
9. After knocking and announcing their presence to no avail, members of the FBI’s Special Weapons and Tactics (“SWAT”) Team breached the front and rear doors of the residence. After breaching the front door, SWAT agents observed VILLATORO in an alcove leading to the residence’s garage. VILLATORO ducked behind a small wall out of view and did not comply with the agents’ demands that he exit the residence. After agents deployed a stun grenade, VILLATORO eventually came close enough to the front door to be pulled out of the residence.
10. VILLATORO was taken into custody on an outstanding administrative immigration warrant. When VILLATORO was being prepared for transport from the residence, he confirmed that the bedroom in the garage was his room and that a jacket inside that room was his.
11. FBI agents and TFOs proceeded to search the residence. Inside the aforementioned garage bedroom, a Taurus, model G2C, 9-millimeter handgun bearing serial no. ACH119455 was observed in plain view on a shelf near the bed. Based on my training and experience, I am aware that Taurus firearms are not manufactured in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Furthermore, the words “TAURUS ARMAS MADE IN BRAZIL” are stamped into the handgun’s slide next to the serial number.
12. In that same garage bedroom, agents located three additional firearms, ammunition, and two suppressors.
Less than two weeks later, DOJ moved to dismiss the case against Villatoro. They moved to get rid of the case, their claims, and Villatoro himself the easy way, by quick and due process-free deportation.
On Tuesday, magistrate judge William Fitzpatrick granted DOJ’s request (without requiring DOJ to offer the reason to dismiss), but granted a continuance to provide Villatoro a way to challenge deportation to CECOT.
Yesterday, Fitzpatrick granted Villatoro’s request for a stay so he can appeal the dismissal and try to stave off deportation to CECOT.
Villatoro’s request for an emergency stay cited the effect that the evidence-free claims that Pam Bondi, among others, has made — just like she has been with Abrego Garcia.
Through its very public pronouncements and attacks on Mr. Villatoro Santos, including bellicose statements by the Attorney General, the FBI Director, the Virginia Governor, and President Trump himself, the Government has effectively placed a target on Mr. Villatoro’s back: if he were to be deported to El Salvador, there is no doubt he will immediately be detained at CECOT without trial, and there will be no way out from there. And to be clear, this life-altering fate would result from the unproven allegations of a government that chose to forego criminal prosecution, where there is due process and a burden of proof to meet, in favor of deportation to a country in which there is little to no respect for the rule of law. Mr. Villatoro Santos faces the risk of an effective life sentence without trial, or worse.
If Abrego Garcia is ever brought back to the country, Pam Bondi’s inflammatory allegations against him may limit the government’s ability to dictate his fate; she obviously has prejudiced his ability to get a fair hearing. But Villatoro (who has not contested he had the guns) is in the country and so may be able to make something of the way Bondi claimed him to be something he’s probably not.
It’s not just that Trump’s Administration is deporting people without due process. He’s deporting people without due process because he needs to sustain false claims about them, to sustain a myth about invasion that Stephen Miller used to get Trump elected.
Meanwhile, Trump’s false claims are collapsing at a more significant level.
On one level, there’s Bukele’s claims to oppose MS-13. As I noted here, there has been isolated reporting on Bukele’s interest in preventing the real story of his relationship with MS-13 from being made public.
Asha Rangappa updates that with a description of how both Bukele and Trump have the need to claim their relationship with MS-13 is something it is not.
El Salvador has suffered from gang violence, led by Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, following decades of civil war from 1979 to 1992. According to an indictment brought by the Eastern District of New York against thirteen MS-13 gang members in 2022, various El Salvadoran administrations since the war ended entered into a “truce” with MS-13, in which the gang agreed to reduce homicides in the city “in exchange for transfers to less secure prisons, improved prison conditions, conjugal visits, cash payments, and other benefits and privileges.” The “truce” came to a halt, however, in 2015 after the U.S. government, which wanted to curb MS-13’s activity in the United States and bring them to justice here, increased pressure on El Salvador to return to restrictive prison conditions for gang members and extradite some of them to the U.S. In retaliation for the “truce” being lifted, MS-13 increased its violence both in El Salvador and in the U.S. In fact, the first Trump Justice Department created a task force, called Task Force Vulcan, to crack down on MS-13 in the U.S. – which is what led to the federal indictment noted earlier.
Enter Bukele. Bukele was elected in 2019, winning on a platform that promised to (once again) “crack down” on gang violence. But his party, Nuevas Ideas, began secretly working to gain the support of a critical group: Yep, MS-13. Bukele and his party negotiated with the gang to bring back the “truce,” which would include (according to the federal indictment) “financial benefits, control of territory, the ability to run the gang from prison, and the early release of gang members.” MS-13 also wanted assurance that they wouldn’t be extradited to the U.S., where they would face more punitive measures. (Having studied the drug cartels in Colombia, this was reminiscent of Pablo Escobar’s mantra, “Mejor una tumba en Colombia, que una carcel in los Estados Unidos” – which means, “Better a grave in Colombia than a jail cell in the United States.”) The same day Bukele’s party received a legislative majority in 2021, it removed the Attorney General and five members of the Supreme Court who had been working with the U.S. to take real action against MS-13. Buekele also released a major MS-13 leader whom the U.S. was seeking for extradition from prison.
In exchange, MS-13 “agreed to reduce the number of public murders in El Salvador, which politically benefitted the government, by creating the perception that the government was reducing the murder rate.” Indeed, Bukele’s popularity is the result of his so-called “Territorial Control Plan,” which involved building his supermax prison and his plan of mass incarceration – a plan which he credits for the drop in violence since he took office. Of course, the citizens of El Salvador aren’t privy to the secret negotiations Bukele made with MS-13 – details that were going to be made public when the U.S. government’s case against the MS-13 defendants went to trial. Which may explain why the Trump administration quietly dropped these charges last week and put the charged MS-13 members on the third plane bound for El Slavador (and which included Abrego Garcia). Among the defendants was one of the highest-ranking leaders of MS-13, Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios, who was arrested last June and added to the earlier indictment (and who almost certainly will not face real punishment in El Salvador). A former FBI agent who spent years working on this and other gang cases called it “a historical loss,” especially in terms of getting critical intelligence about MS-13’s operations and members in the United States.
In short, both Trump and Bukele appear to be complicit in a plan to allow MS-13 to operate in El Salvador on its own terms, in exchange for making it look like both are “cracking down” on the gang in their respective countries. Of course, the fact that MS-13 will continue to operate in cahoots with the El Salvadoran government means that citizens of that country who are victims of the gang will continue fleeing to the United States, undercutting the Trump administration’s claim that it is trying to end the “invasion” of asylum seekers. Then again, Trump needs a steady influx of people to continue trying to cross the border in order to keep claiming the “national emergency” he is using to expand his authority.
There’s a flip side to Trump’s propaganda, involving Trump’s false claims about Tren de Aragua.
Even at the Global Threats Hearings on March 26, otherwise focused on Mike Waltz’ Signal chat, Democrats asked Tulsi Gabbard why Tren de Aragua, which Trump had just declared was invading the country in a matter akin to war, was not even mentioned among the IC’s description — prioritized as the primary threat for the first time — of transnational actors threatening the country.
Western Hemisphere-based TCOs and terrorists involved in illicit drug production and trafficking bound for the United States endanger the health and safety of millions of Americans and contribute to regional instability. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids remain the most lethal drugs trafficked into the United States, causing more than 52,000 U.S. deaths in a 12-month period ending in October 2024. This represents a nearly 33 percent decrease in synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths compared to the same reporting time frame the previous year, according to CDC provisional data, and may be because of the availability and accessibility of naloxone.
Mexico-based TCOs—including the Sinaloa Cartel and the New Generation Jalisco Cartel—remain the dominant producers and suppliers of illicit drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine, and South American-sourced cocaine, for the U.S. market. Last year, official points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border were the main entry point for illicit drugs, often concealed in passenger vehicles and tractor trailers. However, some TCOs likely will at least temporarily change their smuggling techniques and routes in response to increased U.S. security force presence at the border.
Since at least 2020, the growth of Mexico-based independent fentanyl producers—actors who are autonomous or semiautonomous from Mexican cartel control—has increasingly fragmented Mexico’s fentanyl trade. Independent fentanyl producers are attracted to the drug’s profitability and the low barriers to market entry, including the ease of synthesizing it using basic lab equipment and few personnel.
Colombia-based TCOs and illegal armed groups are responsible for producing and exporting the vast majority of cocaine that reaches the United States, some of which is transshipped through Ecuador, contributing to an uptick in violent criminal conflicts that spurs regional migration.
Mexico-based TCOs are ramping up lethal attacks in Mexico against rivals and Mexican security forces using IEDs, including landmines, mortars, and grenades. In 2024, there were nearly 1,600 attacks on Mexican security forces using IEDs, surging from only three reported attacks between 2020- 2021. The sophistication of TCO tactics is reshaping Mexico’s security landscape and has heightened the risk to security forces.
Tren de Aragua is not mentioned in the report; Venezuela is mentioned once (because, with Mexicans and Guatemalans, they are the migrants most commonly trying to enter the country through the Mexican border). El Salvador and MS-13 are likewise not mentioned.
But since then, the IC has done a National Intelligence Estimate that formalizes what became clear in the Threats Hearings. Of the 18 intelligence agencies who contributed to the assessment, only the FBI even claimed that the Venezuelan government was involved with TdA.
The National Intelligence Council, drawing on the acumen of the United States’ 18 intelligence agencies, determined in a secret assessment early this month that the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion of the United States by the prison gang Tren de Aragua, a judgment that contradicts President Donald Trump’s public statements, according to people familiar with the matter.
[snip]
The intelligence product found that although there are some low-level contacts between the Maduro government and Tren de Aragua, or TdA, the gang does not operate at the direction of Venezuela’s leader. The product builds on U.S. intelligence findings in February, first reported by the New York Times, that the gang is not controlled by Venezuela.
An unnamed person in Tulsi’s office accused the entire IC of a Deep State plot, pitting the DNI aggressively against her subordinates.
When asked about the findings, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence dismissed it as the work of “deep state actors” working in conjunction with the media.
“President Trump took necessary and historic action to safeguard our nation when he deported these violent Tren de Aragua terrorists,” the statement said. “Now that America is safer without these terrorists in our cities, deep state actors have resorted to using their propaganda arm to attack the President’s successful policies.”
All of it — all of Trump’s March campaign to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to start deporting people without due process — all of it is based on wildly unfounded propaganda, propaganda about who Bukele is, propaganda about what TdA is, propaganda about who these makeup artists and soccer players are.
There is a great deal of angst among centrist Democratic consultants and pundits that Trump will always have the upper hand on immigration. And while it’s true that that’s what has prevented Trump’s polling from cratering, it is already the case that Americans don’t like specific aspects of Trump’s immigration policy.
The vast majority — 82% — of Americans believe Trump should obey court orders even if he disagrees with them, and 56% think he should stop “deporting people” (again, very vague) specifically:
But the details of the policy Trump is carrying out are even more removed from the polling — even more unpopular, reflecting deep reservations among the public about what the president is doing.
For example, when various pollsters asked if they would support deporting immigrants who have been here more than 10 years (as in the case of Abrego Garcia), U.S. adults said “no” by a 37 percentage point margin; Americans disapprove of deporting immigrants who have broken no laws other than laws governing entry; they oppose deporting U.S. citizens convicted of crimes to foreign jails, such as CECOT, and they oppose housing migrants at Guantanamo Bay while they are processed. All of these are policies the Trump administration has now floated or is actively carrying out.
But here’s what else the polling never accounted for: even in real time, it was clear Trump’s strength on immigration was based on a massive campaign of propaganda (just as Trump had tried with less success in 2018 and 2020).
More than $247 million was spent in the first six months of this year on television, streaming platform and digital ads that mention immigration, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign advertising. That is $40 million more than ads that mention any other issue.
Over 90 percent of the ads supported Republican candidates and were paid for by their campaigns or political action committees backing them.
The level of spending underscores how important Republicans view border security and immigration in this year’s elections. While polls show voters overall rank issues at the border as less important to them than the economy, inflation and protecting democracy, Republican voters consistently rank it as among the most important.
The Washington Post analyzed the transcripts, images and on-screen text featured in more than 700 campaign ads that mention immigration and that ran from January through June for the presidential and Senate races, as well as congressional primaries and major state campaigns.
Taken as a whole, the ads convey an unrealistic portrait of the border as being overrun and inaccurately characterize immigrants generally as a threat, of which there is little evidence. FBI data show U.S. border cities are among the nation’s safest. And a 2023 report from a group of economists found immigrants are at least 30 percent less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born individuals.
Click through to that story, because it was extremely comprehensive, but also just a single story amid a campaign focused on other things.
Donald Trump won election by staging spectacular propaganda in places like Aurora, Colorado, where Stephen Miller tried to drown out the Republican Mayor’s debunking of his false claims. Donald Trump won election by falsely accusing a productive group of Haitian immigrants were eating house pets. Trump won election by claiming that a bunch of criminal aliens safely held in US prisons were, instead wandering the streets.
Donald Trump won, in significant part by stoking fear of immigrants, based off a flood of propaganda that Democrats only responded to with whack-a-mole efforts to combat individual lies.
Thus far, Democrats are still largely fighting a game of whack-a-mole, though one facilitated by human interest and the Fifth Amendment.
Thus far, the campaign to fight back against Trump’s authoritarian immigration crackdown has focused on individual stories: Abrego Garcia’s efforts to raise his three American citizen children, Rumeysa Öztürk’s research on how to make social media useful, Mohsen Mahdawi’s empathy for both Palestinians and Jews. These are individuals, and once they are viewed as individuals, most Americans don’t support their draconian treatment.
But it has yet to account for the fact that it is based on far bigger lies, bigger lies that Stephen Miller manufactured to justify claiming expansive powers in the name of fear.
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Ginevra diBenci says:
No authoritarian achieves power without holding up for his followers’ rabid hatred some Other. It is essential to the authoritarian’s personality and to the social psychology of authoritarian movements to identify and demonize specific groups, groups that can serve as scapegoats for real problems (“they’re taking your jobs!”) and focal points for negative passion (“they’re eating pets! they’re rape-murdering our white daughters!”), either through outride falsehood or projection.
Trump’s propaganda has been amplified by the usual rightwing outlets, but also given air by mainstream media who relentlessly sane washed such lies during the campaign. Democrats would do well to make a positive case for immigrants’ contributions, including such financial ones as paying taxes and contributing to social security (until the recent “death list” idiocy). But all of us would do well to remember that almost without exception we too are immigrants here. The only difference between “us” and “them” is one of chronology.
The Felon Guy talks about how bad immigrants are – but his mother was an immigrant.
And he talks about criminals and how bad they are – but he’s been convicted on multiple felony charges.
That’s a huge mirror he’s looking at.
You know the whole thing stinks when David Brooks of the NYT breaks away from those vast estates for entertaining to write an op-ed today calling for non-violent protests. I’m looking forward to Charlie Pierce’s take on this development (Bobo has rightfully been a target for years).
OTOH, we have Governor Goodhair Gavin Newsom downplaying the whole Abrego Garcia news story as a political ‘distraction’. GGG, the days of Clintonesque triangulation are over for the foreseeable future. One can’t make common cause with MAGA maniacs until they have been beaten into the ground. That will take some time. All you’ve done GGG is to alienate large swaths of D voters and you’ll get no benefit from the Rs or MAGA for selling out. Governor Whitmer of MI will find that out as well at the ballot box.
One crime can be used to distract from another, more heinous crime, Gavin. Obstruction, as painful as a conviction for it is to the perp, covers up what is often a more heinous crime. Doesn’t mean they aren’t both crimes deserving of attention and punishment, governor.
That response was so garbled. Newsom really seemed like he was phoning that one in. Why is it that he wasn’t prepared for questions like that and fumbled around with it?
He said “80-20” as in “this is their 80-20 issue”. The polling above suggests that they are wrong and he is wrong.
Yes the tariff mess has even worse (for MAGA) numbers, but it sells itself. Nobody needs Democrats to point out what a mess the markets are in.
Gretchen won’t find out at the ballot box. Lucky for her, she’s term limited. We’ll see if any of her trips to the White House blow back on to her Lt. Governor or Secretary of State, since both of them have announced runs for Governor.
Governor Goodhair Gavin (GGG) is as well, but the D voters energized by Bernie and AOC (for example) will not forget in future elections for Senate or POTUS.
This is utterly stupid bullshit: “Governor Whitmer of MI will find that out as well at the ballot box.”
You have no fucking idea what Whitmer had to do in DC and why she was compelled to do it, you’re just shooting off your mouth.
After record snow fall this winter across much of northern lower Michigan, the area had an ice storm causing damage equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. People have been without power for weeks and the total damage has yet to be fully documented.
Whitmer abased herself before that fucking felon in order to get a federal emergency declared for her state so that state and federal aid could be accessed to help Michiganders — and a huge number of those affected are in the reddest part of the state.
As crews work to address the damage and reconnect residents to the power grid — which is operated in northern counties by Great Lakes Energy — rural citizens like Montez feel like they’ve been left behind in the aftermath of a storm that prompted a state of emergency declaration from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Whitmer doubled down Friday, requesting a Presidential Emergency Declaration following her White House visit with President Donald Trump.
“Approval of this request would bring critical federal resources to support local response operations that are still ongoing,” said Col. James Grady II, director of the Michigan State Police.
The state lost roughly a million acres of trees in state forests. The maple syrup harvest was crushed. Gods know what will happen if the drought conditions we had continue into summer given all the new dead plant material.
Whitmer put her personal pride and opinion aside to obtain aid for her state. Tell me how the fuck that’s the same as Newsom’s ass-kissing MAGAts for his media programming. On second thought, don’t waste my time with more of your lack of awareness, including the fact Whitmer is term limited and has expressed no interest in running for the open senate seat Gary Peters is leaving.
Well, so she caved in to help Michiganders rather than pushing back to highlight the WH hypocrisy and extortion. Does Whitmer really think Convict-1 / Krasnov will fully honor any deal she negotiates with him? She ought to know better, and I think she does. After all MAGA targeted her directly in the prelude to J6 and none of those goons faced federal charges IIRC. Look at how many WH ‘mistakes’ have been corrected (not many, just promised), and look how much the WH drags out the process on its obligations for the deals it makes with bureaucratic runaround and obstruction.
BTW, I have never seen any politician cash in their chips as Whitmer is doing for bypassing the Senate. Just like GGG, she’ll be looking for the next way to serve the public (GGG is in it for himself, in one big difference) so one bypassed election isn’t going to prove the case. FWIW, the argument also doesn’t address what the voters learned from this episode.
Finally, saying the I personally have a ‘lack of awareness’ sounds like a personal attack I thought was banned and is untrue. I expect an apology.
I guess you missed the trials for the guys who targeted her.
Rugger_9 says:
PJ: Did the feds press charges or MI? As I said, I’m OK being corrected. The phony electors were done in state court (MI v. Berden, et al) but the 2020 kidnap conspiracy (August) was done by the feds under pressure from MI AG Dana Nessel. It doesn’t appear the militia that went into the Capitol on 30 APR were charged. Refer to the Counterterrorism Center report from West Point.
We’ll see, but I also note that GGG isn’t running for office now either, instead choosing to maintain visibility with his podcast for now. FWIW, Harris isn’t in the CA governor’s race (I don’t see that as a stepping stone without risks) so simply bypassing an election doesn’t mean much. Like MI, CA is in the WH crosshairs for loyalty crimes.
So, since I stirred this pot, and since it is a governor’s job to take care of the citizens by appropriate means, I would offer this suggestion which so far has worked well for Harvard: sunlight.
Anyone cutting a deal with this WH needs to put it out in public, perhaps not in the early preliminary negotiation phase but as soon as the demands are apparent and the responses as well. This will flip the script on Convict-1 / Krasnov who is already ‘modifying’ the terms of the law firm capitulations because they were secret. Force the WH to sign things and defend them in public, otherwise there is no contract to enforce in court. Make them define what ‘pro bono’ work is and demand firm timelines for FEMA with consequences for failure. After all, there are several lawsuits pending for foot-dragging (both administrations have been hit), here’s the latest:
“Well, so she caved in to help Michiganders rather than pushing back to highlight the WH hypocrisy and extortion.”
Caved in, or did her job? You’re attacking the person who did their job which is to serve all the people of the state of Michigan. It’s not her job to insult the voters who are overwhelming GOP voters who are in need of federal emergency help the most.
You know who didn’t do their fucking job? Donald J. Trump. He didn’t make sure there was appropriate federal response to a disaster. Whitmer had to go to him — the guy who couldn’t use her name, calling her “that woman in Michigan” — to beg for a federal disaster declaration. Did the persons affected by Hurricane Helene have to rely on their governors traveling to DC to beg Biden for help? No?
How about the media, which complained more about Whitmer not wanting to get her picture taken in the Oval Office — because this wasn’t about her but the state of Michigan, stupid useless gits. No complaints about them? Oh, right, you fell for their bullshit.
But *you* think you’ve nailed the one person who was fail about this disaster. You don’t even live in Michigan but you’re sure. You also use those same smarts to deduce you absolutely know who’s going to run for POTUS in 2028. As if any potential woman candidate believes this country is ready *now* after two of the most qualified women couldn’t beat that tangerine-stained felon.
Wouldn’t hurt you to read closely Marcy’s post, Treating Opposition to Trump as a Partisan Issue Guarantees Defeat since she offers an example of how the media once again misrepresented what a Democratic elected official was doing, and how real centrists are creating problems for Democrats by attacking their own who are working for their constituents instead of shutting their fucking mouths and doing the same.
You can shove your expectation for an apology under your seat.
PeteT0323 says:
FBI mentioned a few times and even though the timing of the mentions may be off from his ascendancy I get the creeps that we have not heard much from Kash Patel. That cannot be a good thing.
Recently returned political prisoners from Russia: Evan Gerskovich, Paul Whelan, et al. Brittney Griner. Returned prisoner from the high seas: Capt. Richard Phillips.
The United States has demonstrated extraordinary abilities to bring prisoners home, even from the middle of the ocean. I hope we can dispense with any niceties regarding Trump and his illegal deportation excuses going forward.
The women shipped off to the CECOT gulag were already returned to the USA as well as a couple of others so of the WH wanted returns they could get them as part of the 6 M$ deal. Perhaps Kristi Noem (I’ll nominate ‘Jackboot Barbie’ for her nickname due to her cosplaying antics) can get grilled and fileted at the annual budget hearings.
However, Abrego Garcia is seen as a litmus test for Convict-1 / Krasnov loyalty so he won’t be coming back until C-1/K has exhausted all other options. Bukele for his part will see this will eventually shine too much light into his cozy MS-13 relationship for political safety as the detention drags on and will find a reason to send Abrego Garcia back.
Pam Bondi is going down the Jenna Ellis / John Eastman / Rudy Giuliani path. There will be comeuppance eventually. I can’t understand why these people do that for Trump. I find it really odd.
Trump’s sycophants just need to look at Pence to see what happens to his people when he’s displeased or finished with them. Speaking of Shapley at the irs is out. He didn’t even make it a week.
It is Trump’s way of making sure he never hears inconvenient facts.
Matt Foley says:
What does Trump have against Bill O’Reilly? Too calm and reasonable? Not enough women victims?
Rugger_9 says:
Shapley lasted three days as IRS head. Apparently Elno wanted him but Bessent did not. Going back to kremlinology days, what does this mean for the next one under the bus? I suppose it depends upon whose money is more available to Convict-1 / Krasnov. However, there is no doubt that there is a power play in the palace (including some new ‘anonymous’ rumors oozing from WH sources).
At my county commissioners meeting Thursday several legal immigrants commented that they are afraid to call police to report crime out of fear of ICE.
OT: Oz sworn in as head of Medicare/Medicaid.
By pure coincidence…cough, cough…I found this on Wikipedia:
Eventually, it is revealed that Oz is actually none of these things, but rather an ordinary conman…who has been using elaborate magic tricks and props to make himself seem “great and powerful”.
We are not at risk of loosing democracy. Democracy is not crumbling. Democracy is already gone.
We now live in a country with a system similar to the one Nazi Germany had in the 30s. The one Ernst Fraenkel called “The dual state”. Most of us still live in the “normative state” part of the system, where laws and due process still appear to hold. Which help sustaining the illusion of some normalcy. But more and more now find themselves in the prerogative state “which exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees” (quoting Fraenkel’s words). And the sphere of the prerogative state keep rapidly expending:
Illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, universities, law firms, federal employees, state and non-profits accepting federal funding and so on. And we are just 3 months in.
And I should also add that as a jew and Israeli, I am appalled that some of this is done in my name, using antisemitism as a thinly veiled excuse to violate human rights and freedom of speech and destroy institutions.
And I should also add that as a jew and Israeli, I am appalled that some of this is done in my name, using antisemitism as a thinly veiled excuse to violate human rights and freedom of speech and destroy institutions.
They are using us Jews as cover. It’s all bullshit and most of us know it. We are on the “get rid of them” list also…. just not at the top like 90 years ago.
i’m triggered by what trump has started, to recollect —
We must look back to Pinochet’s Chile and the Argentina of the Generals. It isn’t only the push to privatize pensions and social security.,,,
Consider the demographics of their victims, the Disappeared…..
I’m not giving up on democracy. Democracies fall and democracies rise again. We can rebuild democracy again, and we should. But for now, this is not a democracy. The sphere of the prerogative state is rapidly expanding, and to be able to fight it, we have to be honest about what it is.
I maintain we may be locked in a battle for Democracy, but it’s certainly not yet lost.
gmokegmoke says:
Andrew Tobias recommended Carole Cadwalladr’s most recent TED talk. Cadwalladr was one of the first reporters to break the data-harvesting Cambridge Analytica stories.
Right bow, we don’t live in 1938 Germany yet. This is more like 1933 Germany. So we don’t need to fear the Gestapo. For now. Hopefully, it will never get this bad.
“…Thus it can be seen that, except for the Crusader interregnum, Palestine was ruled by Arabs and then by Turks for over 1,300 years following the Byzantine era. The population of Palestine was mostly Semitic Arab, both Moslem and Christian. There were also small numbers of Semitic Jews. …”
How is it “anti-Semitic” to call out a government whose population is Semitic that is slaughtering other Semitic people. I find that very Orwellian.
Thanks so much for pointing out how Orwellian and ignorant it is to accuse people of anti-Semitism for speaking out about Semitic Arab peoples or Semitic Jewish peoples.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy issued an injunction that bars the Trump administration from deporting any noncitizen to a country not explicitly mentioned in their order or removal without first allowing them to raise concerns about their safety.
“Defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed, without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation,” Judge Murphy wrote.
I’ve heard “people” say that Bukele has close ties to China. It does take a lot of cement and rebar to build a supermax prison. Maybe CEMEX’s prices are just too high. Trump, being a maximalist transactional type, may be getting in on a grift of Bukele’s as well as hating on brown people.
One thing about Chris Van Hollen many might not know: he came up around these kinds of foreign endeavors. His father was a career FSO and US Ambassador, and his mother was a top analyst at the CIA and State Department. Van Hollen was born in Pakistan and grew up abroad. [screenshot]
NEW: The NYT reports that Abrego Garcia was actually moved to a lower security detention center 9 days ago, but the Trump Administration signed a sworn declaration 6 days ago that he was at CECOT. Here’s a gift link to the story: [Link]
GIFT Link to:
Maryland Deportee Told Senator He Had Been in Isolation in El Salvador Prison Senator Chris Van Hollen said that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia,who was deported and incarcerated in El Salvador, reported having been transferred after weeks in a maximum-security prison. // New York Times // Robert Jimison // April 18, 2025 Updated 7:37 p.m. ET [Robert Jimison, who traveled to El Salvador to accompany Senator Chris Van Hollen, reported from Dulles International Airport.]
If it’s true that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “transferred nine days ago from the CECOT prison to a lower-level facility in Santa Ana,” that means that one of the very few facts that the Trump admin told Judge Xinis in its declarations was false. [THREAD]
BREAKING: Trump administation attests that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is alive and secure but is under the “sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.” [link][THREAD]
UPDATE: April 12, 2025 at 6:40 PM Trump seems to say for the first time that U.S. lacks ability to recover those sent to El Salvador if government deports someone erroneously. Says it’s totally up to Bukele. Seems to leave out that he could … ask Bukele to help fix an error. [screenshot of 4/12/25 6:35 PM TRUMP post][…]
BREAKING: SCOTUS orders the government not to remove anyone from the United States under Trump’s Alien Enemies Act proclamation who is a part of the potential class in the Northern District of Texas case until further order of the court.
Only Thomas and Alito note their dissent. [THREAD]
[…]
This is an unusual order for several reasons, suggesting the majority thought it necessary. This was issued:
• after midnight
• before the government even responded (perhaps most irregular)
• while a Fifth Circuit request remains pending &
• before a dissenting justice could finish their statement.
Also, while the message is clear, the “putative class” is technically only those in the Northern District of Texas who could be subject to the AEA proclamation. (Despite what I’m seeing from some posts flying around. And, which is why my initial post is worded as it is.)
[…]
Of course, and as I said higher up in the thread, the larger message from SCOTUS is clear. But, “message” has often not mattered over the past three months with this administration, so I want to make sure people understand what the Supreme Court actually ordered here.
[…]
Breaking: Supreme Court blocks some Alien Enemies Act removals in Texas-based case The late-night order from the Supreme Court came amidst fears the Trump administration was preparing for more flights to El Salvador as soon as Saturday. https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-aea-april-late-night-order Chris Geidner Apr 19, 2025
[I’m very sad I won’t be around this weekend to talk with you all about this. :-( ]
Obviously, a huge victory for the migrants here
and a major defeat for Trump’s lawless effort to rush out a rendition flight before the courts could act.
But also—potentially a massive signal from the Supreme Court that it is finally prepared to go toe to toe with Trump to halt AEA deportations.
[…]
And now I think SCOTUS is pissed.
It is SO unusual for the Supreme Court to issue an order this late at night and honestly incredible only Thomas and Alito noted their dissents.
Also fascinating that SCOTUS rushed out the order before Alito could finish writing his dissent. That basically never happens! Again—majority seems pissed.
Others will beat me to a write-up on this, but getting seven votes for this order on this procedural posture is nothing short of extraordinary. This particular litigation didn’t exist eight hours ago.
Asha Rangappa’s description of Bukele’s deal with MS 13 dovetails nicely with the current White House claim that Abrego Garcia faces no danger from being deported to El Salvador because MS 13 has been neutralized. Suppose that were true- where must the gang members be but incarcerated with Kilmar?
The government could have legally deported the poor bastard to any other country in the world that would have him, but they decided to double down on their mistake and make a full time union sheet metal apprentice into the face of terrorism, just because Trump struck a deal to offshore our torture regime and he can’t back down. Now let’s argue about “facilitate” vs “effectuate”.
While the gov’t could have deported Abrego Garcia to some other country a month ago, I’m not sure they could legally do so today—Judge Murphy’s preliminary injunction might block them from sending him to any country other than his home country of El Salvador (where the final witholding of removal order in his case from 2019 also forbids them to send him).
If he manages to get back to the U.S., there’s a possibility that only further illegal actions against him by the U.S. gov’t could fulfill the promise of Pam Bondi and others, that he will “never live in the U.S. again”.
No authoritarian achieves power without holding up for his followers’ rabid hatred some Other. It is essential to the authoritarian’s personality and to the social psychology of authoritarian movements to identify and demonize specific groups, groups that can serve as scapegoats for real problems (“they’re taking your jobs!”) and focal points for negative passion (“they’re eating pets! they’re rape-murdering our white daughters!”), either through outride falsehood or projection.
Trump’s propaganda has been amplified by the usual rightwing outlets, but also given air by mainstream media who relentlessly sane washed such lies during the campaign. Democrats would do well to make a positive case for immigrants’ contributions, including such financial ones as paying taxes and contributing to social security (until the recent “death list” idiocy). But all of us would do well to remember that almost without exception we too are immigrants here. The only difference between “us” and “them” is one of chronology.
Look at the list of people demonized by trump/maga. Liberals, black people, brown people, immigrants, judges, civil service employees…..
..
The Felon Guy talks about how bad immigrants are – but his mother was an immigrant.
And he talks about criminals and how bad they are – but he’s been convicted on multiple felony charges.
That’s a huge mirror he’s looking at.
Yes, immigrant mother and two immigrant wives. He is a criminal, abuser and exploiter of humanity scapegoating others to feel superior.
let’s remember also that Melania’s parents were fast tracked for citizenship whilst other must wait.
Melania Trump Explains Her ‘Einstein Visa’
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2NHBjHNo_o)
You know the whole thing stinks when David Brooks of the NYT breaks away from those vast estates for entertaining to write an op-ed today calling for non-violent protests. I’m looking forward to Charlie Pierce’s take on this development (Bobo has rightfully been a target for years).
OTOH, we have Governor Goodhair Gavin Newsom downplaying the whole Abrego Garcia news story as a political ‘distraction’. GGG, the days of Clintonesque triangulation are over for the foreseeable future. One can’t make common cause with MAGA maniacs until they have been beaten into the ground. That will take some time. All you’ve done GGG is to alienate large swaths of D voters and you’ll get no benefit from the Rs or MAGA for selling out. Governor Whitmer of MI will find that out as well at the ballot box.
One crime can be used to distract from another, more heinous crime, Gavin. Obstruction, as painful as a conviction for it is to the perp, covers up what is often a more heinous crime. Doesn’t mean they aren’t both crimes deserving of attention and punishment, governor.
He’s also trying to distract from unpopular state-level policies, and his continued support for Big Ag and Big Oil.
That response was so garbled. Newsom really seemed like he was phoning that one in. Why is it that he wasn’t prepared for questions like that and fumbled around with it?
He said “80-20” as in “this is their 80-20 issue”. The polling above suggests that they are wrong and he is wrong.
Yes the tariff mess has even worse (for MAGA) numbers, but it sells itself. Nobody needs Democrats to point out what a mess the markets are in.
Gretchen won’t find out at the ballot box. Lucky for her, she’s term limited. We’ll see if any of her trips to the White House blow back on to her Lt. Governor or Secretary of State, since both of them have announced runs for Governor.
Governor Goodhair Gavin (GGG) is as well, but the D voters energized by Bernie and AOC (for example) will not forget in future elections for Senate or POTUS.
This is utterly stupid bullshit: “Governor Whitmer of MI will find that out as well at the ballot box.”
You have no fucking idea what Whitmer had to do in DC and why she was compelled to do it, you’re just shooting off your mouth.
After record snow fall this winter across much of northern lower Michigan, the area had an ice storm causing damage equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane. People have been without power for weeks and the total damage has yet to be fully documented.
Whitmer abased herself before that fucking felon in order to get a federal emergency declared for her state so that state and federal aid could be accessed to help Michiganders — and a huge number of those affected are in the reddest part of the state.
Detroit Free Press, 14 APR 2025:
The state lost roughly a million acres of trees in state forests. The maple syrup harvest was crushed. Gods know what will happen if the drought conditions we had continue into summer given all the new dead plant material.
Whitmer put her personal pride and opinion aside to obtain aid for her state. Tell me how the fuck that’s the same as Newsom’s ass-kissing MAGAts for his media programming. On second thought, don’t waste my time with more of your lack of awareness, including the fact Whitmer is term limited and has expressed no interest in running for the open senate seat Gary Peters is leaving.
Well, so she caved in to help Michiganders rather than pushing back to highlight the WH hypocrisy and extortion. Does Whitmer really think Convict-1 / Krasnov will fully honor any deal she negotiates with him? She ought to know better, and I think she does. After all MAGA targeted her directly in the prelude to J6 and none of those goons faced federal charges IIRC. Look at how many WH ‘mistakes’ have been corrected (not many, just promised), and look how much the WH drags out the process on its obligations for the deals it makes with bureaucratic runaround and obstruction.
BTW, I have never seen any politician cash in their chips as Whitmer is doing for bypassing the Senate. Just like GGG, she’ll be looking for the next way to serve the public (GGG is in it for himself, in one big difference) so one bypassed election isn’t going to prove the case. FWIW, the argument also doesn’t address what the voters learned from this episode.
Finally, saying the I personally have a ‘lack of awareness’ sounds like a personal attack I thought was banned and is untrue. I expect an apology.
I guess you missed the trials for the guys who targeted her.
PJ: Did the feds press charges or MI? As I said, I’m OK being corrected. The phony electors were done in state court (MI v. Berden, et al) but the 2020 kidnap conspiracy (August) was done by the feds under pressure from MI AG Dana Nessel. It doesn’t appear the militia that went into the Capitol on 30 APR were charged. Refer to the Counterterrorism Center report from West Point.
https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-conspiracy-to-kidnap-governor-gretchen-whitmer/
We’ll see, but I also note that GGG isn’t running for office now either, instead choosing to maintain visibility with his podcast for now. FWIW, Harris isn’t in the CA governor’s race (I don’t see that as a stepping stone without risks) so simply bypassing an election doesn’t mean much. Like MI, CA is in the WH crosshairs for loyalty crimes.
So, since I stirred this pot, and since it is a governor’s job to take care of the citizens by appropriate means, I would offer this suggestion which so far has worked well for Harvard: sunlight.
Anyone cutting a deal with this WH needs to put it out in public, perhaps not in the early preliminary negotiation phase but as soon as the demands are apparent and the responses as well. This will flip the script on Convict-1 / Krasnov who is already ‘modifying’ the terms of the law firm capitulations because they were secret. Force the WH to sign things and defend them in public, otherwise there is no contract to enforce in court. Make them define what ‘pro bono’ work is and demand firm timelines for FEMA with consequences for failure. After all, there are several lawsuits pending for foot-dragging (both administrations have been hit), here’s the latest:
https://sourcenm.com/2025/04/17/nm-highlands-university-sues-fema-alleging-unnecessary-hurdle-in-way-of-2022-wildfire-compensation/
It’s what must be done with dishonest people.
“Well, so she caved in to help Michiganders rather than pushing back to highlight the WH hypocrisy and extortion.”
Caved in, or did her job? You’re attacking the person who did their job which is to serve all the people of the state of Michigan. It’s not her job to insult the voters who are overwhelming GOP voters who are in need of federal emergency help the most.
You know who didn’t do their fucking job? Donald J. Trump. He didn’t make sure there was appropriate federal response to a disaster. Whitmer had to go to him — the guy who couldn’t use her name, calling her “that woman in Michigan” — to beg for a federal disaster declaration. Did the persons affected by Hurricane Helene have to rely on their governors traveling to DC to beg Biden for help? No?
How about the media, which complained more about Whitmer not wanting to get her picture taken in the Oval Office — because this wasn’t about her but the state of Michigan, stupid useless gits. No complaints about them? Oh, right, you fell for their bullshit.
But *you* think you’ve nailed the one person who was fail about this disaster. You don’t even live in Michigan but you’re sure. You also use those same smarts to deduce you absolutely know who’s going to run for POTUS in 2028. As if any potential woman candidate believes this country is ready *now* after two of the most qualified women couldn’t beat that tangerine-stained felon.
Wouldn’t hurt you to read closely Marcy’s post, Treating Opposition to Trump as a Partisan Issue Guarantees Defeat since she offers an example of how the media once again misrepresented what a Democratic elected official was doing, and how real centrists are creating problems for Democrats by attacking their own who are working for their constituents instead of shutting their fucking mouths and doing the same.
You can shove your expectation for an apology under your seat.
FBI mentioned a few times and even though the timing of the mentions may be off from his ascendancy I get the creeps that we have not heard much from Kash Patel. That cannot be a good thing.
Not much from Stone or Flynn either, and FWIW Erik Prince always needs adult supervision. I’ll agree that’s not good.
Students are having their visas cancelled for no apparent reason, and are starting to sue:
https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/uc-berkeley-student-sues-visa-termination-20281918.php
Recently returned political prisoners from Russia: Evan Gerskovich, Paul Whelan, et al. Brittney Griner. Returned prisoner from the high seas: Capt. Richard Phillips.
The United States has demonstrated extraordinary abilities to bring prisoners home, even from the middle of the ocean. I hope we can dispense with any niceties regarding Trump and his illegal deportation excuses going forward.
The women shipped off to the CECOT gulag were already returned to the USA as well as a couple of others so of the WH wanted returns they could get them as part of the 6 M$ deal. Perhaps Kristi Noem (I’ll nominate ‘Jackboot Barbie’ for her nickname due to her cosplaying antics) can get grilled and fileted at the annual budget hearings.
However, Abrego Garcia is seen as a litmus test for Convict-1 / Krasnov loyalty so he won’t be coming back until C-1/K has exhausted all other options. Bukele for his part will see this will eventually shine too much light into his cozy MS-13 relationship for political safety as the detention drags on and will find a reason to send Abrego Garcia back.
Pam Bondi is going down the Jenna Ellis / John Eastman / Rudy Giuliani path. There will be comeuppance eventually. I can’t understand why these people do that for Trump. I find it really odd.
Trump’s sycophants just need to look at Pence to see what happens to his people when he’s displeased or finished with them. Speaking of Shapley at the irs is out. He didn’t even make it a week.
He just put Mark Levin, Fox New crackpot, on the Homeland Security Council.
It is Trump’s way of making sure he never hears inconvenient facts.
What does Trump have against Bill O’Reilly? Too calm and reasonable? Not enough women victims?
Shapley lasted three days as IRS head. Apparently Elno wanted him but Bessent did not. Going back to kremlinology days, what does this mean for the next one under the bus? I suppose it depends upon whose money is more available to Convict-1 / Krasnov. However, there is no doubt that there is a power play in the palace (including some new ‘anonymous’ rumors oozing from WH sources).
At my county commissioners meeting Thursday several legal immigrants commented that they are afraid to call police to report crime out of fear of ICE.
OT: Oz sworn in as head of Medicare/Medicaid.
By pure coincidence…cough, cough…I found this on Wikipedia:
Eventually, it is revealed that Oz is actually none of these things, but rather an ordinary conman…who has been using elaborate magic tricks and props to make himself seem “great and powerful”.
A true “wizard” of Oz.
It is time we all call it by name.
We are not at risk of loosing democracy. Democracy is not crumbling. Democracy is already gone.
We now live in a country with a system similar to the one Nazi Germany had in the 30s. The one Ernst Fraenkel called “The dual state”. Most of us still live in the “normative state” part of the system, where laws and due process still appear to hold. Which help sustaining the illusion of some normalcy. But more and more now find themselves in the prerogative state “which exercises unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees” (quoting Fraenkel’s words). And the sphere of the prerogative state keep rapidly expending:
Illegal immigrants, legal immigrants, universities, law firms, federal employees, state and non-profits accepting federal funding and so on. And we are just 3 months in.
And I should also add that as a jew and Israeli, I am appalled that some of this is done in my name, using antisemitism as a thinly veiled excuse to violate human rights and freedom of speech and destroy institutions.
They are using us Jews as cover. It’s all bullshit and most of us know it. We are on the “get rid of them” list also…. just not at the top like 90 years ago.
from On Hitler’s Mein Kampf: The Poetics of National Socialism by Albrecht Koschorke (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017 ISBN 9780262533331):
The Vienna mayor Karl Lueger – Hitler’s foremost model in terms of populist animosity towards Jews – is said to have declared, “I decide who’s a Jew!”
… Goebbels: Christ cannot have been a Jew. I do not need to prove this with science or scholarship. It is so!
And from Joseph Goebbels’ novel, Michael (NY: Amok, 1987):
“Intellect is a danger to the development of the character.”
i’m triggered by what trump has started, to recollect —
We must look back to Pinochet’s Chile and the Argentina of the Generals. It isn’t only the push to privatize pensions and social security.,,,
Consider the demographics of their victims, the Disappeared…..
“We are not at risk of loosing(sic) democracy. Democracy is not crumbling. Democracy is already gone.”
Hyperbole and capitulation—but it’s also exactly what the Trump Administration wants us to believe.
Please don’t give upon Democracy just yet, SELASELA.
I’m not giving up on democracy. Democracies fall and democracies rise again. We can rebuild democracy again, and we should. But for now, this is not a democracy. The sphere of the prerogative state is rapidly expanding, and to be able to fight it, we have to be honest about what it is.
“…we have to be honest about what it is.”
Yes, that’s why I refuted your claim.
I maintain we may be locked in a battle for Democracy, but it’s certainly not yet lost.
Andrew Tobias recommended Carole Cadwalladr’s most recent TED talk. Cadwalladr was one of the first reporters to break the data-harvesting Cambridge Analytica stories.
This Is What a Digital Coup Looks Like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZOoT8AbkNE
If this were really already like Nazi Germany, you’d be in the hands of the Gestapo by now. We’re no there yet. Resistance is not futile.
Right bow, we don’t live in 1938 Germany yet. This is more like 1933 Germany. So we don’t need to fear the Gestapo. For now. Hopefully, it will never get this bad.
The New America: Federal (ICE) Agents Boarding Trains?
By Judith Roberts
Chief judge at Fort Berthold District Court: MHA Nation
According to this UN.org link, the Palestines are Semitic peoples.
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-206581/#:~:text=Thus%20it%20can%20be%20seen,small%20numbers%20of%20Semitic%20Jews.
“…Thus it can be seen that, except for the Crusader interregnum, Palestine was ruled by Arabs and then by Turks for over 1,300 years following the Byzantine era. The population of Palestine was mostly Semitic Arab, both Moslem and Christian. There were also small numbers of Semitic Jews. …”
How is it “anti-Semitic” to call out a government whose population is Semitic that is slaughtering other Semitic people. I find that very Orwellian.
Thanks so much for pointing out how Orwellian and ignorant it is to accuse people of anti-Semitism for speaking out about Semitic Arab peoples or Semitic Jewish peoples.
ABC News reports on a new preliminary injunction: (from the Boston judge who previously issued a TRO)
Using Just Security’s litigation tracker, I found this courtlistener page for this case. Document #64 is Judge Murphy’s order (link to pdf).
I’ve heard “people” say that Bukele has close ties to China. It does take a lot of cement and rebar to build a supermax prison. Maybe CEMEX’s prices are just too high. Trump, being a maximalist transactional type, may be getting in on a grift of Bukele’s as well as hating on brown people.
https://bsky.app/profile/rubashkin.bsky.social/post/3ln2oelewl22e
April 17, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Allison Gil [MuellerSheWrote]:
https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.com/post/3ln4mygs6kc2d
April 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
GIFT Link to:
Maryland Deportee Told Senator He Had Been in Isolation in El Salvador Prison Senator Chris Van Hollen said that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia,who was deported and incarcerated in El Salvador, reported having been transferred after weeks in a maximum-security prison. // New York Times // Robert Jimison // April 18, 2025 Updated 7:37 p.m. ET [Robert Jimison, who traveled to El Salvador to accompany Senator Chris Van Hollen, reported from Dulles International Airport.]
Bukele wants those millions from the US, so he can’t afford to damage someone who has attention and publicity, like Abrego Garcia.
https://bsky.app/profile/joshuajfriedman.com/post/3ln4k2lys7226
April 18, 2025 at 5:14 PM
So, FROM 4/18/25, I think…
NINE days ago =? 4/9/25
SIX days ago =? 4/12/25
On 4/12/25:
https://bsky.app/profile/kyledcheney.bsky.social/post/3lmnh77vzd72w
April 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
SCOTUS intervenes:
https://bsky.app/profile/chrisgeidner.bsky.social/post/3ln5eyxapfk2m
April 19, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Here’s Geidner’s report:
Breaking: Supreme Court blocks some Alien Enemies Act removals in Texas-based case The late-night order from the Supreme Court came amidst fears the Trump administration was preparing for more flights to El Salvador as soon as Saturday. https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-aea-april-late-night-order Chris Geidner Apr 19, 2025
[I’m very sad I won’t be around this weekend to talk with you all about this. :-( ]
Gonna’ miss having you around this weekend, harpie!
Mark Joseph Stern:
https://bsky.app/profile/mjsdc.bsky.social/post/3ln5oobicd22n
April 19, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Matt Ford:
https://bsky.app/profile/mford.bsky.social/post/3ln5ewzzzo22z
April 19, 2025 at 1:15 AM
If there are two justices who should retire (or have retired four years ago), it’s Thomas and Alito.
Yeah…until you consider who’s gonna replace them.
Asha Rangappa’s description of Bukele’s deal with MS 13 dovetails nicely with the current White House claim that Abrego Garcia faces no danger from being deported to El Salvador because MS 13 has been neutralized. Suppose that were true- where must the gang members be but incarcerated with Kilmar?
The government could have legally deported the poor bastard to any other country in the world that would have him, but they decided to double down on their mistake and make a full time union sheet metal apprentice into the face of terrorism, just because Trump struck a deal to offshore our torture regime and he can’t back down. Now let’s argue about “facilitate” vs “effectuate”.
While the gov’t could have deported Abrego Garcia to some other country a month ago, I’m not sure they could legally do so today—Judge Murphy’s preliminary injunction might block them from sending him to any country other than his home country of El Salvador (where the final witholding of removal order in his case from 2019 also forbids them to send him).
If he manages to get back to the U.S., there’s a possibility that only further illegal actions against him by the U.S. gov’t could fulfill the promise of Pam Bondi and others, that he will “never live in the U.S. again”.