Massive Escalation in Trump’s War on Immigrants
The “checks and balances” in this so-called democracy are falling apart. No judge or politician is coming to the rescue.
From the Party for Socialism and Liberation:
The plane carrying 300 Venezuelans detained by ICE to El Salvador last Saturday was no ordinary deportation flight – it represented a massive escalation in Trump’s war on immigrants that takes us into uncharted territory.
Trump is essentially asserting that no judge has the authority to check his power. Here’s how:
On Saturday, Trump issued an order invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed up deportations of Venezuelans. This is a law that was meant to be used during wars, and was the legal basis for the mass imprisonment of people of Japanese descent during World War Two in the infamous “internment camps.”
The order falsely claimed that the so-called “Tren de Aragua” gang was conducting an invasion of the United States on behalf of the Venezuelan government. Trump was basically saying that undocumented immigrants from Venezuela are invading soldiers and should be treated as such.
Trump made a deal with the far-right president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to imprison alleged “Tren de Aragua” members. Bukele is infamous for building a massive prison system that is notorious for extreme human rights abuses.
Because of Bukele, El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The use of the Alien Enemies Act was immediately challenged in court. A federal judge ruled on Saturday that the Trump administration must pause deportations carried out under this law.
A deportation flight to El Salvador was already in the air when the emergency ruling was made, but the judge ordered that the flight turn around and return to the United States.
But Trump just ignored the order. The flight landed in El Salvador, and the deported immigrants were thrown into prison.
Bukele even produced a video showing heavily armed soldiers taking the immigrants into custody, and mocked the U.S. judge by tweeting “Oopsie… Too late.”
The Trump administration’s press secretary justified ignoring the judge’s order by saying that the court did not have jurisdiction in this case.
She argued that because the constitution gives the president power over foreign policy (the fake “invasion” making this a foreign policy matter), a court cannot restrict Trump’s actions.
The logical conclusion of this line of reasoning is that Trump is totally above the law.
The constitution gives the president responsibility for the executive branch, which encompasses all government agencies responsible for everything from environmental regulation to taxes to the prison system and much more. It is hard to imagine any policy that would not arguably fall into one of these areas.
The whole idea behind having “checks and balances” is that one part of the government can prevent another from seizing total control. The courts determine if the president is acting within the law, the executive branch can only enforce laws that are passed by Congress, etc.
If Trump can just ignore anything a judge says about an issue that falls under the purview of the executive branch, then that effectively means that no one has the legal authority to stop him from doing whatever he wants.
The judge could find that Trump is “in contempt of court.” When that happens, the person in contempt is usually first hit with fines and then eventually the threat of arrest.
But that arrest would have to be carried out by the U.S. Marshal Service, which is an agency under the control of Trump and his loyal Attorney General, Pam Bondi.
Congress has the authority to impeach the president when he breaks the law. But for the Senate to convict him, 19 Republicans would have to turn against Trump.
And even the Democrats are unlikely to be interested in such a move – they’ve already essentially adopted Trump’s narrative that undocumented immigrants are dangerous criminals.
The “checks and balances” in this so-called democracy are falling apart. No judge or politician is coming to the rescue.
Only the people can stop Trump from asserting absolute power by taking to the streets in a fighting movement that demonstrates the massive opposition that exists to Trump’s agenda!
From Senior Fellow at American Immigration Council Aaron Reichlin-Melnick:
The men sent to do hard labor in a Salvadoran prison with no due process include:
- A tattoo artist seeking asylum who entered legally.
- A teen who got a tattoo in Dallas because he thought it looked cool.
- A 26-year-old whose tattoos his wife says are unrelated to a gang.
Another man sent to Bukele’s prison with no due process is a barber whose family insists has no gang ties.
Remember: These people were thrown into a Salvadoran prison with no warning, no process, and no opportunity to argue that the government had gotten it wrong, no right to contest the government’s claim they were members of Tren de Aragua.
And believe me, the government gets gang allegations wrong ALL THE TIME.
For example, ICE has been known to label some teens as gang members on incredibly flimsy evidence, sometimes so poor that judges reject it entirely.
But the Venezuelan men sent to a Salvadoran prison on Saturday never got a chance to argue the government got it wrong!
From Josh Eakle:
It’s important you understand this.
The people in this photo were residents of the USA that were denied due process. They were rounded up and shipped to a prison in El Salvador—without trial, without evidence—simply on suspicion of gang affiliation.
This was done in defiance of our American courts that deemed the action illegal.
They could be legal residents. They could be innocent bystanders. They could be asylum seekers. For all we know, they could be U.S. citizens.
Now, they’re trapped in one of the most violent prisons on Earth, enduring brutality beyond what most of us can imagine.