Comments on: The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 - present, deportations, detainments

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 - present, deportations, detainments

toastyk — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 07:01:26 -0800

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. It has been used in the most recent past to detain Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. It is being used in the present by Trump to deport Venezuelan nationals; most recently a federal judge has ordered a hold on the deportations and ordered planes to turn around while the case is being considered.

Other deportations and detainments: - Mahmoud Khalil, whom we have been discussing in the current I/P thread, is being detained and considered for deportation under an obscure law called McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, known formally as the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952, which was once used to target Jewish people. The White House has been open about the fact that Khalil has committed no crime. - Another student had her visa revoked for supporting pro-Palestinian activities, which the Trump administration has characterized as advocating for terrorists. She fled to Canada. - A Milwaukee Hmong American mother was deported to Laos, a country she has never set foot in, doesn't speak the language, knows no one, and is surrounded by the military, who she says is holding her documents. - A German national with a green card was sent to an ICE detention center, and "violently interrogated" according to his mother. - Two German tourists who were trying to enter the US legally and were each detained for weeks by ICE, chained, and put in solitary confinement, have been sent back to Germany. - Even the spouses of US citizens are getting detained by ICE, according to USA today: a woman in her 50s who has lived in the country more than 30 years and is married to a U.S. citizen; a woman in her 30s with proof of valid permanent legal residency, whose father and siblings are U.S. citizens, and who first came to the U.S. as a teen; a European woman in her 30s engaged to a U.S. citizen who overstayed her visa when she was 21; a woman engaged to a U.S. legal permanent resident, with whom she has lived for nine years.

By: Lemkin

Lemkin — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 07:13:03 -0800

The Rubicon has been crossed. NYT:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Sunday that hundreds of alleged gang members had been sent to El Salvador, a day after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, an obscure wartime law, to deport Venezuelans with little to no due process. The judge had ordered the return of any planes carrying immigrants that had departed the United States under the order.

By: JustSayNoDawg

JustSayNoDawg — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 07:50:29 -0800

So long as there is no effective penalty that can be immediately and forcefully applied, the Trump admin is just gonna Trump as hard as they can. This is the Republican middle finger to the Constitution that they've been itching to shove in our faces (followed by a fist and a jackboot and a Bible).

By: mazola

mazola — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:04:15 -0800

There does not seem to be a bottom to this administration.

By: gentlyepigrams

gentlyepigrams — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:06:54 -0800

I used to work for an immigration lawyer in the 1990s (corporate, not family or asylum, though he & I worked on some of those cases as well). The current administration has been itching to throw a lot of people out of the country and they don't care whether it's legal. That scares the shit out of me even more than the sea change in policy: not just back to the old racist "we only want white people of the right kind" funnel but just according to the whims of TFG on top of that.

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:22:06 -0800

If the Marshals Go Rogue, Courts Have Other Ways to Enforce their Orders - slDemocracyDocket

By: Your Childhood Pet Rock

Your Childhood Pet Rock — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:39:43 -0800

If the Marshals Go Rogue, Courts Have Other Ways to Enforce their Orders - slDemocracyDocket Ok that's great. They appoint a bounty hunter to arrest Rubio. The executive impounds the funds used to keep the courts open. Now what?

By: tclark

tclark — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:43:47 -0800

Now what? I have a strong suspicion that the only thing that would truly make a difference is a strict, prolonged general strike. I don't have confidence that Americans will or even can do it.

By: gwint

gwint — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:52:58 -0800

Read this brief interview with Troy Edgar, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The reporter presses and presses and Edgar cannot find any actual justification for Mahmoud Khalil's arrest.

By: caviar2d2

caviar2d2 — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:55:45 -0800

I'm worried that the most recent news about the Venezuelan case is going to play as another ACLU/liberal self-own. The good guys are factually correct about the lack of due process and the slippery slope to greater abuse, but when I heard this on NPR this morning my gut reaction was "why the fuck are there Venezuelan prison gang members in the United States?" I think that is going to be a common first reaction, and for a lot of MAGA and non-MAGA folks they won't progress to "we have to protect the most horrible people so less horrible people are protected ". I certainly wrestle with some of the ACLU's past choices of case selection. Hopefully this doesn't come across as me personally being anti-immigrant . I just make space in my head for counter arguments to help me frame mine. I think it's a legal education thing you can't turn off once you have it.

By: lalochezia

lalochezia — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:59:35 -0800

"why the fuck are there Venezuelan prison gang members in the United States?" This needs to be reframed loudly: "people accused of being in gangs. Innocent until proven guilty. If they can accuse them and deport them without any evidence, or any due process they can snatch anyone off the street and do the same. Look at that german white dude they just tortured! They're coming for you and your family soon if you say something they don't like." etc.

By: supermedusa

supermedusa — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:00:46 -0800

I would love to see a prolonged general strike but I think too many people are in financially precarious situations and there are no longer enough protections on employment. People cannot risk losing their jobs, their crap health coverage etc., I suppose in theory they cannot just fire everyone, but that's a rational argument, so unlikely to have much sway.

By: non canadian guy

non canadian guy — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:06:56 -0800

Noel Casler:

The lethally complex issues we now face are the result of one man's personality disorder and continuous criminality - and a coterie of billionaires willing to exploit his toxic malignancy for their own benefit. A lifelong racist and sexual predator, Trump has obviously found an alarming amount of support in American culture and civic life at this moment - and that is a very sad thing.

By: Lemkin

Lemkin — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:13:34 -0800

I have a strong suspicion that the only thing that would truly make a difference is a strict, prolonged general strike I tell people. You want to know what it takes to get free? This is what it takes to get free.

By: kikaider01

kikaider01 — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:31:37 -0800

I have a strong suspicion that the only thing that would truly make a difference is a strict, prolonged general strike. I'm a teacher, and I can tell you how that would go for our profession: They'd just fire us. The strike would be a total contract violation, slam dunk. So school's out for a couple of weeks — depending on the timing, even through the start of summer vacation, through the start of winter break, whatever — and then (on an "emergency" basis) they reopen with minimally trained hires (Teach for America model?) and curriculum provided through for-profit education service providers. Maybe pop-up charter schools, "voucher schools." Probably a package deal with companies like Pearson... and you can bet there will be a lot of (claimed) generative AI. "Fully accredited educational assistants with custom AI-generated lessons provided through America's most trusted textbook company!" And, boom, in one crisis they accomplish what they have always wanted: The destruction and replacement of the public education system. I'd still join in (though I can think of better ways to resist in place without violating my contract and making it easy for them), but the only thing that "would truly make a difference" and could stop Trump is the Republicans. America, with "at will" employment and anti-union "right to work" laws, is rigged against general strikes.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:38:20 -0800

would love to see a prolonged general strike but I think too many people are in financially precarious situations and there are no longer enough protections on employment. On of the things that gives me hope that actions short of a full general strike can be effective is the Rosenstrasse (Rosenstraße) protest where

The Rosenstrasse protest is considered to be a significant event in German history as it is the only mass public demonstration by Germans in the Third Reich against the deportation of Jews.[1] The protest on Rosenstraße ("Roses street") took place in Berlin during February and March 1943. This demonstration was initiated and sustained by the non-Jewish wives and relatives of Jewish men and Mischlinge, (those of mixed Jewish and Aryan heritage).

TFG is hitting veterans with his job cuts and anti DEI actions pretty heavily and I'm hoping when the jack boots start those people give them pause. And I can't imagine anything that would make me madder than deporting my spouse or kids.

By: Faintdreams

Faintdreams — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:50:41 -0800

Another one to add to this mess - A British tourist was recently detained and is currently being held in a ICE facility. Becky Burke, 28, has been held in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing centre for about two weeks, since being denied entry at the US-Canada border. - BBC News Bleeding Cool (which is usually just an entertainment news site) has slightly more coverage: "On February 26th, Becky attempted to cross the Canadian border for the next leg of her journey. Unfortunately, due to an incorrect visa, she was denied entry into Canada. When she tried to return to the US, she was refused re-entry and classified as an "illegal alien." Despite being a tourist with no criminal record, she was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington." - Bleeding Cool I fear this is just going to keep happening - to US and Non US citizens alike - as long as the current President T remains in office.

By: McBearclaw

McBearclaw — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:54:30 -0800

Well said, kikaider. The precarity of any American who can't draw a living from investments is severe - we've made everything cheap except the essentials of life. We don't have ancestral villages or family farms or pensions to fall back on, and a huge amount of our collective savings has been locked up in the stock market, thanks to tax-advantaged retirement accounts. The billionaires all think they're smart enough the play this to their advantage, but it feels like the leverage is with the next tier down - people whose wealth is fully dependent on stocks, and, in essence, the consumerism of the rest of us. If we can't strike, we can slow down - on work, sure, but especially consumption. It's a natural response to uncertainty and takes less coordination, so just juicing it with some classic "make do and mend" wartime-style cultural adjustments could have a big impact.

By: Lemkin

Lemkin — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:56:58 -0800

due to an incorrect visa, she was denied entry into Canada. When she tried to return to the US, she was refused re-entry and classified as an "illegal alien." Despite being a tourist with no criminal record, she was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington As Marlowe said to the goon holding a gun on him outside the car place in The Big Sleep, "You could scare off a lot of trade that way."

By: biffa

biffa — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:00:40 -0800

I've already had several conversations about reducing US products when buying in the UK. These reports make it seem like they're try to incentivise tourists to stay away. More than happy to oblige.

By: netowl

netowl — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:08:59 -0800

To give you an idea how flimsy the "Venezuelan gang member" accusation is, there was a story last month about someone applying for asylum through the official app, waiting a year for his turn, and flying to Mexico for his interview. ICE thought his tattoos (e.g. Air Jordan) were evidence of gang activity. Despite having no criminal history and never having set foot in the US, they sent him to GITMO.

By: neuron

neuron — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:47:20 -0800

There does not seem to be a bottom to this administration. Rubio is definitely a bottom.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:53:09 -0800

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 10:57:18 -0800

I have a strong suspicion that the only thing that would truly make a difference is a strict, prolonged general strike. I don't have confidence that Americans will or even can do it. Well, there's always the chance that the remaining military leaders who aren't Trumpists wake the fuck up and re-read the first part of their enlistment oath. The "...support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same..." And also realize the "...according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice." can negate the ..."obey the orders of the President of the United States..." part. I'm not holding my breath, though.

By: joannemerriam

joannemerriam — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:02:14 -0800

A Canadian with NAFTA work visa paperwork is being detained by ICE.

By: Lemkin

Lemkin — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:09:17 -0800

there's always the chance that the remaining military leaders who aren't Trumpists wake the fuck up and re-read the first part of their enlistment oath Once the military gets to decide who can be president, you have a new set of problems.

By: Kitteh

Kitteh — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:10:31 -0800

I would love to see a prolonged general strike but I think too many people are in financially precarious situations and there are no longer enough protections on employment. ^this^ When I see people asking why Americans don't strike like the French do, it's because their country has given them no social safety net in any form, and they have been ground down. Often your insurance depends on employment. Most, if not all, employers can fine you without cause. You can't effectively full scale revolt if you have a health condition or mouths to feed.

By: swr

swr — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:15:35 -0800

One thing I've noticed here in the UK and seems to be in the US too, is a shift in attitude towards the purpose of deportations. It's no longer seen as an administrative action to remove someone who has overstayed a visa and is unwilling or unable to leave (eg. ran out of money and can't afford the air fare). Instead, it is seen as punishment for crime or wrongdoing. The problem with using deportations for that purpose is that it bypasses the whole criminal justice system which is designed to handle that sort of thing, and in doing so, bypasses the safeguards that have been keeping arbitrary and capricious actions in check for literally centuries. There are ways to challenge deportations, but they are not robust. In the UK the Home Office has been known to expedite the removal of people who they suspect will mount a legal challenge, rendering the whole thing moot. If deportations become streamlined, there may be no opportunity to challenge the process at all. I think a lot of people aren't bothered by this because they think that, as citizens, it won't affect them. Citizenship is a lot more fragile than people think: You're a citizen of a country for exactly as long as the government of that country says you are. Governments generally have rules about that, but revocation of citizenship is certainly possible, and has been in the UK since 2002. Trump has been making noises about ending birthright citizenship, which is how most people have citizenship. Watch for rhetoric about citizenship being a privilege rather than a right. Again, all of this totally bypasses the normal criminal justice system! I would even go so far as to speculate that that is precisely why they are doing it.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:18:23 -0800

Once the military gets to decide who can be president, you have a new set of problems. Maybe. Kinda depends on how it's done and who's involved. In any case, at this point about the only way this is truly dealt with and stopped will be through force, so you might as well go with the largest and most capable group.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:40:05 -0800

A Canadian with NAFTA work visa paperwork is being detained by ICE. I get a 403 forbidden when I visit that link.

By: funkaspuck

funkaspuck — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:54:45 -0800

I've seen reports of H1-B visa holders being detained when trying to return to the US, something which will hit tech hard.

By: netowl

netowl — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 11:59:51 -0800

I get a 403 forbidden when I visit that link. I do too, but I found what I think is a story update on their front page.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 12:07:52 -0800

I do too, but I found what I think is a story update on their front page. Ok they seem to block direct links to their stories. I was able to go tot he front page and click on it.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 12:30:21 -0800

wow, only two months in and they're already sending white women to gitmo

By: fatehunter

fatehunter — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 12:46:35 -0800

Even the spouses of US citizens are getting detained by ICE, according to USA today: --------------------------------------------- There are so many things I feel like saying in response to this article, but honestly, I give up.

By: splitpeasoup

splitpeasoup — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 12:54:19 -0800

"why the fuck are there Venezuelan prison gang members in the United States?" This is frankly ignorance. Venezuelan immigrants fleeing gangs are routinely accused of gang membership, much as Afghan interpreters who aided the US in Afghanistan are accused of being terrorists. Meanwhile, the entire LA County Sheriff's Dept is openly run by gangs, all the way to the top, and nobody seems to have a problem with that.

By: naoko

naoko — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 13:47:38 -0800

I think it's a legal education thing you can't turn off once you have it. Sounds like a skill issue not a legal education issue. Signed, An immigration lawyer

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 13:56:39 -0800

These reports make it seem like they're try to incentivise tourists to stay away. I've been not really boycotting but let's say avoiding travel to the states for years since the deplorables started whipping up hate against trans people. I've got some time off coming up and I was considering breaking my avoidance to see Yosemite and monument valley and a few other natural places before TFG sells them to the highest bidder for advertising and resource extraction. But the stories coming out about ICE actions and holding people without charges/trial and torturing them to boot; holy hell. No view is worth it.

By: eviemath

eviemath — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 15:02:12 -0800

On the topic of strikes: Americans didn't have savings, government-based social safety nets, or even legal right to do so during past general strikes or even most of the particularly large or significant strikes in US history. You know, the ones that won us what legal workplace organizing protections we do have. Having been through two strikes and having a third averted less than 20 minutes before the deadline (so my union had to do all of the planning to go on strike), I can tell you through experience as well as general knowledge of labor organizing that modern day strikes also don't rely on people having individual savings or government support. You can't collect unemployment while on strike, for example. What they do require is organizing and mutual aid from a larger community (in my union's case, financial support from the national union that we are a constituent union of). In historic examples, folks understood that a strike was a whole-community endeavour, with others not on strike providing funds for food and shelter for those who are, or with an entire community in a general strike working together to set up an alternate local economy. People in the US today could absolutely do that. But it requires organizing, not just posting on social media. Many unions have been and are currently working on that organizing. If you want to also see a general strike, make sure that you are involved in your workplace or tenants union if you have one, learn organizing skills if you haven't already, join or start a union or community mutual aid group if you don't already have one. Or, for those of you who aren't averse to religion, join a progressive church (another historically important site of community organizing in the US). Worker and community power comes from solidarity and organization. Many white middle to upper middle class people in the US don't have much experience with that and are very atomized, but from everything I hear there is a large hunger for community connections among such folks. And communities of color or those of us who are white but from poor/working class backgrounds often do have those experiences. (It's no coincidence, I think, that most of the fastest growing unions and related groups like the Southern Movement Assembly are primarily led by people of color.)

By: eviemath

eviemath — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 15:14:46 -0800

(Religious organizations aren't for me, but I've heard of progressive churches supporting peace and justice activists, refugees, etc. in a variety of ways. Keep in mind, as well, that any group that is actually serious and effective has to balance their public-facing work with safety considerations around not talking about everything they're doing online. For someone who doesn't have relevant connections already, that means that you aren't going to learn about all of the solidarity and mutual aid actions going on near you unless you start to get involved, and then people learn that they can trust you and you get more involved.)

By: NotAYakk

NotAYakk — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 15:51:37 -0800

They'd just fire us. The strike would be a total contract violation, slam dunk. So school's out for a couple of weeks — depending on the timing, even through the start of summer vacation, through the start of winter break, whatever — and then (on an "emergency" basis) they reopen with minimally trained hires (Teach for America model?) and curriculum provided through for-profit education service providers. Look at labour history. Strikes don't stay legal. If you strike against the people writing laws and stay within the law, you lose by design. Strikers who win, historically, block access to the means of production without their consent.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:12:27 -0800

Trump Sends Hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador in Face of Judge's Order This is fascism.

Shipping people off to a foreign country under false application of obscure old law
Shipping them to El Salvador, a country notorious for abusive imprisonment
Ignoring an explicit court order to not do it.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:41:29 -0800

The US is no longer a place that's safe for foreigners to visit, every conference with international attendees has a moral obligation to relocate outside the US. Worldcon 2025 is scheduled to be held in Seattle and it's only a few months before it starts, but there's still time to move it into Vancouver, and it should be. All the concerns people had about con attendees in China? Yeah, they definitely apply to the US now even if you want to argue that they didn't until this year. Over on Bluesky I've seen several people who planned to attend the Game Developer's Conference saying they canceled, often losing money on non-refundable travel, because it's not safe for them. Some were trans, some were just worried that their politics had put them on a list. We're now a country where that's a valid concern and there's empirical evidence backing it up.

By: cendawanita

cendawanita — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:56:18 -0800

When I see people asking why Americans don't strike like the French do, it's because their country has given them no social safety net in any form, and they have been ground down eviemath said it longer and better with actual American context, but let me just relate, to my global south ears: "oh sure, we over here were always very stable and protected. That's why we went to the streets." Anyway, huh, Financial Times (piece by Edward Life): Je Suis Khalil

By: cendawanita

cendawanita — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:04:38 -0800

(besides if you survive it, you could end up like me and have an alternate tour of my capital city, where I can point out to spots I/we got tear gassed and/or chased by the police. It's a great keepsake! /s)

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:15:58 -0800

My Canadian family has been pretty frank about not coming back, perhaps not ever. Friends in the EU have been personally sanctioned for the "crime" of working for international treaty bodies like the ICC, so they're banned from traveling. I think from now on if I'm seeing my friends from abroad, I'll need to go abroad to do it, because they certainly ain't coming here.

By: Fupped Duck

Fupped Duck — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:17:28 -0800

>I have a strong suspicion that the only thing that would truly make a difference is a strict, prolonged general strike. I don't have confidence that Americans will or even can do it. The first rule of Roy Cohn is respond when attacked, 10 fold. Any significant civil unrest will give him the pretext to declare marshal law and suspend the midterm elections, effectively giving him more time to sack DC.

By: 3D printed sock

3D printed sock — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:49:52 -0800

but when I heard this on NPR this morning my gut reaction was "why the fuck are there Venezuelan prison gang members in the United States?" > This is frankly ignorance. And some racism. I'm Colombian, and let me tell you, if 8 out of every 10 white people in the US don't make some cocaine joke to me when they find out where I was born. It's incredible to me; I've heard these people who call themselves liberals say, "But no, the Venezuleans, they're gangsters". Do you mean to tell me that on every other issue, you call Trump a liar, but on this one, you choose to believe him? Don't you think they can manufacture a story here to suit their purpose? Amazing. Every day I understand the people of this country a little bit more. How clearly and unknowingly you expose yourselves in your words.

By: reedbird_hill

reedbird_hill — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:08:16 -0800

The US is no longer a place that's safe for foreigners to visit, every conference with international attendees has a moral obligation to relocate outside the US. World Pride is slated for mid-May in DC - I have to think many, many people are rethinking attending right now

By: jenfullmoon

jenfullmoon — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:22:11 -0800

Even white people from other countries (UK, Canada) are getting this treatment now, apparently. It's not going to be safe for anyone. Don't go on vacations outside of where you live, folks.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:22:19 -0800

Even the spouses of US citizens are getting detained by ICE, according to USA today: --------------------------------------------- There are so many things I feel like saying in response to this article, but honestly, I give up. Someone should tell the Senator from Pennsylvania, his family is not safe.

By: oc-to-po-des

oc-to-po-des — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:24:41 -0800

World Pride is slated for mid-May in DC - I have to think many, many people are rethinking attending right now Per reporting from Erin in the Morning, at least one international organization has already pulled out of World Pride, along with Germany and Interpride issuing travel warnings for LGBTQ+ travelers.

By: If only I had a penguin...

If only I had a penguin... — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:50:25 -0800

I think Toronto has hosted World Pride already, but it sure would be nice if anyone who nopes out of going to DC considered supporting the Canadian economy instead. Even if it wasn't formally World Pride, it's Toronto so the world kind of already lives here.

By: subdee

subdee — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:01:21 -0800

why they moved Mahmoud Khalil to Louisiana photos of the deportees in El Salvador

By: subdee

subdee — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:02:13 -0800

Just that sinking feeling.... The speed at which these lawsuits are being filed and ruled on is heroic, though.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:06:25 -0800

Such a weird thing that one Federal Court's ruling is only for that District.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:14:52 -0800

If other reporting is correct, one deportee's criminal record amounts to a citation for riding a bike on the wrong side of the road. (In gitmo, for that case.)

By: netowl

netowl — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 20:59:12 -0800

Shipping them to El Salvador, a country notorious for abusive imprisonment The BBC reported that all the detainees were sent directly to CECOT, a massive 40,000 inmate capacity facility which is only 2 years old but already notorious. There's no visitation or outside press allowed. Reportedly the main housing consists of 256 mass cells of about 100 square meters each holding up to 150 people. That's 5 times less than the minimum floor space recommended by the Red Cross, and 8 times less than recommended for new construction (PDF page 20). Most of the space is for 80 bunks, which are sheet metal with no bedding. The roof of the cell is grating for guards to walk on and observe below... I'd like to think part of that design helps keep cell temperatures and humidity comparable to outside (i.e. hot and humid but survivable), but that's probably optimistic. Bukele has promised to take any prisoner from the US. He said they needed to be convicted, but it's unclear if even this first round has been convicted of anything. It's very sad what happened to El Salvador. Gangs like MS-13 formed in the US, and got pushed into the country via deportations. They took hold, and then fractured gangs started vicious wars with extremely high death rates. For a time the government paid gangs to quit killing so many people. That failed. Bekele changed everything: quickly doubling the incarceration rate from what was already double the US rate. The murder rate plunged, and he's really popular. He also fixed everything to his liking, for example getting re-elected even though the constitution prohibited it. Accelerationists think that destroying stuff can bring needed change, but it mostly brings people like Bukele and decades of hardship.

By: DeepSeaHaggis

DeepSeaHaggis — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 21:02:10 -0800

Ugh, Bill Kristol (and not the good one). I hate that fucker and his smug Republican face. Why continue to platform the rusting GOP old guard? What irrelevance. As if they aren't responsible for this mess. Just chuck the lot of 'em. I don't care if you think your voice is important. Go wait in the room with the Lincoln Project and Liz Cheney and shut the fuck up.

By: xdvesper

xdvesper — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 21:12:54 -0800

Interesting detail on Ma Yang - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel At the end of her sentence, Yang was transferred to an ICE detention facility. There, at the advice of another attorney, she agreed to a document stating that a deportation order would be entered against her in exchange for being released. Despite agreeing to be deported, she and her attorney believed it wouldn't happen, since only a small handful of people, if any, are deported to Laos each year, and Laos typically has refused to accept U.S. deportees. No deportees were sent to Laos in the last fiscal year. And nearly 5,000 citizens of Laos with final deportation orders remained in the U.S. as of November, according to an ICE report. --- So that answers why her attorney believed it wouldn't affect her residence status - it was historically impossible to deport to Laos, so people who took the deal in the past continued to live in the US. --- She was part of 26 people charged as part of Operation Legend. All defendants are charged in a conspiracy to distribute at least 5 kilograms of cocaine or 1000 kilograms of marijuana. If convicted, the defendants face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison.

By: Snowflake

Snowflake — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 22:29:25 -0800

There does not seem to be a bottom to this administration. No, in this administration the ass is at the top.

By: gentlyepigrams

gentlyepigrams — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 23:34:19 -0800

Worldcon 2025 is scheduled to be held in Seattle IANAL but as I mentioned above, I used to work for an immigration lawyer who worked mostly on the corporate side (H-1Bs, Ls, TNs, labor certification etc.) in the 1990s. An Aussie author who's a friend of mine was considering coming to Worldcon if the election went the other way. I emailed her last week and told her that we'd have to meet up in Europe instead because she shouldn't come here. She was worried about being arrested as a pornographer (her books feature queer relationships) but I was more worried about her getting in trouble for "working" at the con after reading about some of the white Anglo/European folks who are getting detained at the border now. IIRC the 2026 Worldcon is in LA and also needs to move.

By: nikoniko

nikoniko — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 01:26:59 -0800

So we're sending 'gang members' to El Salvador, and paying that country to house them. Does anyone think that El Salvador is just going to start sending folks north to the US, so as to collect more money? Dude. Really? In addition to what Netowl said, and in an attempt to add a little context to that extremely ignorant comment: the MS-13 gang was formed in LA (in the 80s) by El Salvadorian refugees of a civil war in which the US (surprise!) was intimately involved, and on the side of the fascists/oligarchy. These refugees formed a gang in LA, initially to protect themselves, and eventually, as tends to happen, gang inertia took control. Many of these gang members were later deported back to El Salvador where the gang became a powerful and extremely ruthless institution. So, this is nothing new. 1) Trump pulled this same stunt the last time he was in office, 2) Clinton played a key role in creating the MS-13 gang, 3) and this is the same old tired racist trope the US has been trotting around for 100s of years. What's surprising to me is that there are still people who are shocked by all this senseless racist fear mongering and scapegoating. I'm not saying it's all of you, but as a Latino, I'm used to it. I'm nonetheless saddened that so many people still fall for this shtick, including many Latinos –ugh, Marco Rubio, etc.– but then again, we also have centuries of racist colonial hegemonic narratives to deal with. The majority of Latin American refugees in the US are here as a result of more than a century of abhorrent US foreign policy, which violently suppressed and destroyed any/every popular movement towards greater equality and economic justice on the continent. Racist scapegoating on behalf of the elites in order to misdirect and suppress the lower classes is a recurring theme, a la Nietzsche. I wonder if the cycle will ever be broken? Apologies to all my other (non-?)American brothers and sisters –aka people not solely of Western European descent– who also have to tend with centuries of senseless, racist, scapegoating and violence; not to mention the original inhabitants of the North American continent. BTW I doubt El Salvador will send folks to "El Norte" to collect more money as a matter of policy. Folks are going to keep coming North for as long as the US continues to destabilize the continent, steal its wealth, and support regimes that do not serve their people, or, for as long as the US remains a functioning State with a higher quality of life.

By: nikoniko

nikoniko — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 01:36:33 -0800

I guess what's troubling and surprising is that now Germans and Brits are being caught up in these racist policies. Mon dieu! Who will be next?!

By: berkshiredogs

berkshiredogs — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 02:48:33 -0800

Somebody please help. WTF are we supposed to do???

By: reedbird_hill

reedbird_hill — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 04:30:56 -0800

Somebody please help. WTF are we supposed to do??? The answer is always the same: organize, put overwhelming numbers of people in the street, make normal economic activity that the oppressors depend on impossible. I think it's going to take a lot more pain before Americans are ready for that.

By: caviar2d2

caviar2d2 — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 05:28:56 -0800

but when I heard this on NPR this morning my gut reaction was "why the fuck are there Venezuelan prison gang members in the United States?" > This is frankly ignorance. And some racism. I'm Colombian, and let me tell you, if 8 out of every 10 white people in the US don't make some cocaine joke to me when they find out where I was born. Sorry, I thought my comment was pretty clear. I'm not cheerleading the deportations! I'm lamenting the media landscape and the lack of curiosity and education of a huge number of Americans. Basically we need to break through the wrong but simple message that's going to be all over Fox News, and frankly it was framed this way on NPR at first: Gang members. America rescued from them by Trump. Liberals defending gang members. Sorry if I caused a derail. I've been trying to use facts and context to convince people of better solutions my whole life, and it's just frustrating that in the current climate it's harder and harder to do that. I mean, people voted for Trump a *second time* when they (should have) had access to infinite sourced information about his misdeeds, policy failures, etc. It's a curse that the lizard-brain messages always trump (ha) the evolved human messages. Maybe we need to frame our counter-arguments in lizard-brain mode somehow.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 05:57:39 -0800

Why continue to platform the rusting GOP old guard? Linking a video isn't "platforming" someone, they've platformed themselves. And for whatever reason The Bulwark has been a lot more strident and substantive in its reporting on Trump's power grab than many other outlets. It also employs Will Sommer and Sam Stein, among others.

By: 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a

922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 06:16:27 -0800

Dude. Really? Dude, like why do you think I put gang members in quotes. Sheesh.

By: rambling wanderlust

rambling wanderlust — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:18:10 -0800

One of the most eye-opening aspects of the USA Today article is that these people were flying domestically, not internationally. "Immigration agents swept each of them up at airport checkpoints in mid-February, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands." I don't know how those airports are configured, so maybe everyone has to go through border control or were they stopped at the ID checking stations before entering the terminal? But between this and the Green Card detention activity at Logan it is really changing my thinking about traveling internationally and now domestically in the US. The current odds of green card holders being scooped up is still low, but given how fast they are ramping up this week as reflected in the articles from the past couple of days - it has gone from something that seemed extremely unlikely to being a real issue. (Then there is the whole 100 mile border zone issue, but airports are a more convenient target for now.)

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:40:48 -0800

Worth noting that the Fascist fucker running El Salvador posted a taunting Tweet "oopsie too late" to the judge who issued the order prohibiting the people from being sent there. Fupped Duck Any significant civil unrest will give him the pretext to declare marshal law and suspend the midterm elections, effectively giving him more time to sack DC. Yeah, I think surrendering first and meekly letting Trump/Must/Etc do whatever they want with no pushback is not really a great way forward, thanks. berkshiredogs As for what to do, the answer is the same as it always has been: you do the next right thing, and if you can't fix the big problem you fix the small problems, and if you can't fix the small problems you start coordinating with other people so you can. Find your local mutual aid collective and join up with the anarchists helping people out. Hell, just sign up for your local park/wilderness/roadside cleanup if that's all you can do. Or just go grab some trash bags and a couple friends and start working. Attend every protest you can, numbers matter, size matters. Start making ties with local people who feel the same way, because you're going to need those local in person connections. There's no one weird trick to fix this. We are in for a long, bad, time and we must accept that and push forward. Watch out for pinkertons and quizlings. You'll find some people who still believe in all the white Christian nationalist crap but are grumpy about egg prices or whatever. Those people are not friends, or allies, and you should do your best to avoid associating with them. A true former Trumper, someone who's actually rejected the white Christian nationalist stuff is fine. But watch out for the ones who aren't really changed. Follow the old hippie rule: anyone suggesting violence is a pig. If you feel brave and you're either retired yourself or rich enough to skip work on the meeting days, get involved with your local Democratic Party oranization, which is almost guaranteed to be made mostly of richer older retired white people and be both welcoming to newcomers and also made of people who are baffled at the idea that everyone can't attend their meeting at 10AM on Tuesday. P. J. O'Rourke was a right wing villain, but he did have one true insight: everyone wants to save the world but no one wants to help mom do the dishes. But you can't save the world. So get cracking on the dishes becuase that you can do. And all the small changes add up. And besides, when the dark times fully materialize you'll want all the local friends you can make. People on the internet can't help when your spouse/friend/parent/child/whatever gets disappeared by the Fash. But local friends can.

By: subdee

subdee — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 08:13:09 -0800

https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-evil-at-your-door "We don't even know the *names* of the hundreds of people who were deported. How can we know they are guilty? Just because Trump says they are guilty doesn't make it true. Look at all the mistakes ICE has been making recently. There's someone at Gitmo now whose only crime was a citation for riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street. If they want to deport gang members let them first have a hearing where they prove that's what these men are." And for people less brainwashed you can go further, from "mistakes" into malice: "This was all done for the photo op. It was a calculated action to break the law as publicly as possible, and be seen breaking the law. Now they can easily break the next law. Trump posted on Truth social today that he was "undoing" all of Biden's pardons because he says they aren't legitimate. I'm telling you, no one is safe."

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 09:26:37 -0800

"Immigration agents swept each of them up at airport checkpoints in mid-February, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands." Probably significant for jurisdictional purposes that they are Territories, and islands. ACLU: The Constitution in the 100-Mile Border Zone Somebody's 2024 law review article (which says rights in PR and USVI should be the same as stateside): Plenary Power: Teaching The Immigration Law Of The Territories

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 11:45:10 -0800

r/LeopardsAteMyFace switched their banner to an obese leopard, because the leopards are so well fed right now. lol We've seen plenty of spouses of Trump supporters being detained [1, 2, 3]

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 11:54:23 -0800

"Immigration agents swept each of them up at airport checkpoints in mid-February, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands." I don't know how those airports are configured, so maybe everyone has to go through border control or were they stopped at the ID checking stations before entering the terminal? I traveled through both the USVI and Puerto Rico recently (mid-Feb) so I can speak to this a bit. Although both the USVI and PR are part of the US, for various reasons—some better than others—both of them get treated as ... not entirely part of the US. The USVI in particular feels very, very much like you are setting foot in a US colony. Yes, there's the US Post Office, and there are American automobiles on the road (although they drive on the left side for historical reasons), but most foodstuffs are non-US brands imported from Mexico or other parts of the Caribbean (probably due to the Jones Act). There are also relaxed rules on the importation of meat products that can't be brought into the US mainland. AFAICT they have some sort of exemption from the Second Amendment such that they can have gun laws that I don't think would fly in the mainland (post-Heller). It's a very strange legal environment. Anyway, when you go to the airport in the USVI to fly to the mainland, you have to go through an Immigration / Passport Control checkpoint just like you would on an international flight—except you don't technically have to have a passport. I've never wanted to try it, so I've always traveled with my real US passport, but a friend who forgot theirs was able to go through an "alternative process" using just their domestic (California) drivers license and pass. But it feels exactly like passport control coming into any international airport, and it's staffed by uniformed CBP officers who will ask you what you were doing, how long you were in USVI, where else you went, etc. Then, you have to go through a USDA inspection checkpoint, where they're basically looking for illicit foodstuffs. This is in theory because you can buy meat and produce in the USVI that aren't allowed in the mainland US (the big concern seems to be African Swine Fever, which I don't think you can get from, say, beef jerky, but they'll confiscate stuff like that more or less at random anyway). And then you go through the normal airport security screening, at which point you can drop your checked bags (which you have to hand-carry through the previous two stages) and go through the usual pornoscanners and bag checks. They even do PreCheck. So there is definitely an opportunity there for CBP to pick someone up if their ID is red-flagged in whatever system they check such things against. If you are on some Federal "hot list", it would have all the risks of going through an international border, despite not technically being an international border.

By: Ray Walston, Luck Dragon

Ray Walston, Luck Dragon — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:06:48 -0800

The Fascist moment is here. The tipping point, the line in the sand or the rubicon or whatever imagery you prefer. What we all do now is what we would do if we somehow woke up in 1934 Germany.

By: subdee

subdee — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:36:39 -0800

How to call in to the public hearing at 5pm eastern time today. The hearing is on the legality of the alien enemies act and whether trump violated the law by sending those people to El Salvador. Call in to show you are paying attention.

By: adrienneleigh

adrienneleigh — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 13:42:30 -0800

The USVI in particular feels very, very much like you are setting foot in a US colony. That's because the USVI is, in fact, a US colony. "Part of the US" is a lie when they have no representation in the federal government.

By: kliuless

kliuless — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 19:42:13 -0800

-Trump Administration Wants Judge Removed After Allegations It Ignored His Court Order -DOJ seeks to boot judge questioning Trump deportations, lawyer warns of 'constitutional crisis' also btw, from cato, which if nothing else is pretty good on civil liberties... Trump's New Immigration Ban: An Arbitrary, Discriminatory Legal Immigration Rewrite - "The proposed restrictions could target more than one in five legal immigrants to the United States and separate over 150,000 spouses and minor children of US citizens from their families in the United States. It would impose incredible damage to the US economy and society based on utterly baseless security concerns."

Trump's plan could also affect more than 1.3 million temporary visas, including those of business travelers, international students, tourists, and even fiancés of US citizens... This order would be an egregious violation of Americans' liberties: to associate, contract, and trade with citizens from the targeted countries and even to live with parents, spouses, and minor children in the United States. It would also stop Americans from saving Afghan allies from murder by the Taliban. It would do nothing to protect Americans or improve the already extremely rigorous vetting procedures for US immigration. Instead, it would harm the US economy and punish law-abiding immigrants. President Trump claims he wants a "merit-based" immigration system, but a system banning people based on their nationality is the opposite of merit-based. It is a national embarrassment. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has already handed President Trump near-total control over the legal immigration system. He can rewrite laws and ban entire nationalities at will. While Congress could try to pass legislation seeking to rein in these abuses, President Trump has an interpretation of the Constitution under which the president can override any US law. Congress should try to stop him anyway.

By: rambling wanderlust

rambling wanderlust — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 02:57:19 -0800

ICE has 'disappeared' 48 New Mexico residents, attorneys say Immigrant families, advocates call for New Mexico Legislature to act

In the first week of March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it arrested four dozen New Mexico residents as part of immigration raids in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell. Now those people are unaccounted for, according to an American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico civil rights complaint filed Sunday, which alleges all 48 "have been forcibly disappeared." "What we know is people in our community are gone, workers are gone, family members are gone, our neighbors are gone," said Marcela Diaz, founding executive director of Somos un Pueblo Unido. According to ICE's own announcement, it arrested most of those people not for criminal convictions, but for violations of civil immigration law, such as illegal entry or re-entry after deportation. Diaz said Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Roswell's mayors told members of her organization that they didn't know the arrests would happen, and that ICE had assured them they would only be going after people with criminal convictions. ... The Trump administration is developing Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, into a "deportation hub" and considering Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque as a possible military detention site for undocumented immigrants, the New York Times reported on Feb. 21. New Mexico's all Democratic congressional delegation on March 5 wrote a letter to Trump and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth objecting to the plans.

By: kokaku

kokaku — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 04:11:11 -0800

I know "first they came for..." is getting cliched at this point, but odds on that they're not going to stop at immigrants with this. why bother exterminating citizens when they can ship them to willing 3rd country authoritarians and simply disappear them (basically the put homeless people on buses solution writ large).

By: jedicus

jedicus — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:43:43 -0800

ICE responded to Judge Boasberg's order to explain whether anyone was deported after his order was issued [pdf]. This is the claim they're going with:

On March 15, 2025, after the Proclamation was publicly posted and took effect, three planes carrying aliens departed the United States for El Salvador International Airport (SAL). Two of those planes departed U.S. territory and airspace before 7:25 PM EDT. The third plane departed after that time, but all individuals on that third plane had Title 8 final removal orders and thus were not removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue. To avoid any doubt, no one on any flight departing the United States after 7:25 PM EDT on March 15, 2025, was removed solely on the basis of the Proclamation at issue.

ICE also refused to provide any more details [pdf] (I would assume details such as a flight manifest and matching list of final removal orders), arguing that

there was no violation of the Court's written order (since the relevant flights left U.S. airspace, and so their occupants were "removed," before the order issued), and the Court's earlier oral statements were not independently enforceable as injunctions. [and] the Government's motion for a stay remains pending before the D.C. Circuit

The government attorneys here are, in my opinion, making non-credible arguments about the court's oral orders and simultaneously hoping to establish a precedent that a court's authority ends once someone is out of US airspace. Thus, in future cases, as long as they can get the plane out of US airspace before a judge can issue a formal written order, they can deport whomever they want without consequence. If they can further get away with hiding flight patterns behind the smokescreen of "national security" (which is another argument they have advanced), then all they have to do is claim the plane left before the order was issued.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 09:55:47 -0800

A Judge Ordered Deportation Planes to Turn Around. The White House Didn't Listen. Detailed timeline showing that all of the planes could have turned around, and one didn't even take off from the US until after the written order was posted. The Administration is doing a lot of hair-splitting now about oral vs written and details that's all just a smokescreen. They have also been clear they do not feel any need to pay attention to anything a court does.

By: jedicus

jedicus — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 10:12:17 -0800

Chief Justice Roberts has responded to Trump's most recent tirade about demanding the impeachment of judges whose decisions Trump doesn't like:

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

I could not find a direct link to Roberts's statement. Pretty weak sauce coming from Roberts alone, but I'll bet he couldn't get Thomas or Alito to sign off on it, maybe others.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:08:20 -0800

Yeah, that "oral vs written" thing is a foot in the door to just ignore all judicial rulings. First they get it in the minds of the MAGA types that the magic of judicial rulings only happens when they're written. Then they start nit picking the written orders, maybe the judge signed an autopen, or used the wrong color ink, or didn't sign their full name, or whatever. Each time they'll ignore an order with an increasingly flimsy excuse until finally it's so normalized they don't bother with excuses and it's always been that the President can and should ignore judicial rulings.

By: snuffleupagus

snuffleupagus — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:14:16 -0800

As usual, Roberts is saying too little too late. House GOP moves swiftly to impeach judge targeted by Trump Previously: GOP lawmaker files measure to impeach judge who blocked Trump (Engelmayer, who limited DOGE access to Treasury records) Republicans move to impeach judges who blocked Trump (McConnell Jr., who ruled on spending freezes) Also Bates, for ordering reinstatement of some web publications taken down under the Anti-DEI EO, and Ali, for issuing a TRO against defunding USAID. Impeachment in the House only requires a majority vote. Conviction in the Senate requires two-thirds. Get ready for show trials, I guess. Probably timed to occur during the run-up to the mid-terms. Along with some resignations to avoid having to go through it, and increasing reluctance to rule against the administration.

By: gentlyepigrams

gentlyepigrams — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:58:12 -0800

House GOP moves swiftly to impeach judge targeted by Trump Brandon Gill, who's the House Rep behind this one, isn't my Rep but he's TX CD-26, which is right next to my district (CD-24). He won the Republican primary to succeed a retiring Republican member last year and took the seat in November. His big claim to fame, and what probably won him the primary (and the seat) is that he's Dinesh D'Souza's son-in-law.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 15:15:29 -0800

The pigs are targeting the Troublemakers in Seattle, because they protest Tesla. I think Musk's involvement has been beneficial in one important way: it gives people something and somewhere to protest. Most Americans can't go to DC, the nation is too big and the trip too long. But there's a Tesla showroom within a few hours drive of almost everyone, so we're seeing focused, active, ongoing, protest in a way that the US hasn't really seen since BLM. And the people in power are freaking out. If they're that worried, it means the protests are working. They don't care when what we do is useless, but they do care when what we do has an impact and they try to stop it.

By: Faintdreams

Faintdreams — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 07:13:09 -0800

Update to my previous comment, Becky Burke has now been returned home to Wales

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 08:11:34 -0800

Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 12:08:22 -0800

As expected, they're just doiong random sweeps and rounding up everyone who "looks Mexican". Your actual citizenship is irrelevant.

By: cybercoitus interruptus

cybercoitus interruptus — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:30:46 -0800

Guardian article by Jasmine Mooney, March 19/25: I'm the Canadian who was detained by ICE for two weeks It's good that she acknowledges how privileged she is, by sketching a bit about the other women she was detained with.

By: adrienneleigh

adrienneleigh — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 15:08:51 -0800

As expected, they're just doiong random sweeps and rounding up everyone who "looks Mexican". Your actual citizenship is irrelevant. Which they've done for decades, including under Obama and Biden. But it's definitely ramped up.

By: cendawanita

cendawanita — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:22:43 -0800

This is in Le Monde, so mind the French: Etats-Unis : un chercheur français refoulé pour avoir exprimé « une opinion personnelle sur la politique menée par l'administration Trump » Le ministre de la recherche français a dit sa « préoccupation », mercredi, après cette décision des autorités américaines. Le chercheur du CNRS aurait subi un contrôle aléatoire à son arrivée, avant que son ordinateur et son téléphone ne soient fouillés. Otherwise-- 'I am a political prisoner': Mahmoud Khalil says he's being targeted for political beliefs - Exclusive: Palestinian activist and green card holder speaks out from Louisiana immigration detention for first time Georgetown Postdoc the Latest to Be Detained by ICE as Crackdown on Campus Speech Widens - Badar Khan Suri was detained by DHS agents after a public campaign against him and his wife by pro-Israel groups. New Yorker: The Last Time Pro-Palestinian Activists Faced Deportation - Mahmoud Khalil's case is eerily similar to that of the L.A. Eight, in which a group of students were targeted, not because of any criminal activity but because of their speech.

By: fimbulvetr

fimbulvetr — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:36:09 -0800

Charlie Angus has a few words to say about this from Canada: "I urge people not to travel to the United States"

By: phigmov

phigmov — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:55:12 -0800

This sort of thing is really going to put a crimp in tourism... British tourist sent home from US in chains after visa error Rebecca Burke was led on to a plane in chains 'like Hannibal Lecter', her father said. Rebecca Burke, a 28-year-old graphic artist from Monmouthshire, endured a 19-day detention in a US facility

By: Nelson

Nelson — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 08:31:25 -0800

Recent developments on the Alien Enemies Act: Administration's Details on Deportation Flights 'Woefully Insufficient,' Judge Says

A federal judge in Washington edged closer ... to holding the Trump administration in contempt for possibly having violated his ruling ... In a sternly written order, the judge, James E. Boasberg, told the administration to explain to him by Tuesday

"edged closer", "for possibly having violated", "sternly written order". Perhaps the rule of law will be restored in the United States any day now.. Maybe by Tuesday! Slightly more useful, Judge to Consider Block on Trump's Use of Wartime Law to Deport Venezuelans. I think this is about making the judge's temporary ruling more permanent. Finally: Intelligence Assessment Said to Contradict Trump on Venezuelan Gang. Part of what's illegal about this use of the Alien Enemies Act is it only applies to countries we are at war with. We are not at war with Venezuela. The gang the Republicans accuse the men of being part of is not part of the Venezuelan military or government. Also many of the deported men are not members of the gang.

By: Rykey

Rykey — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 09:29:01 -0800

we're seeing focused, active, ongoing, protest in a way that the US hasn't really seen since BLM. And the people in power are freaking out. The Luigi Incident rattled a lot of wealthy people too. Remember Musk's son getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders for weeks after that happened?

By: cendawanita

cendawanita — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:11:17 -0800

Imagine having to read this alongside what's going on in Turkey right now. Columbia Yields to Trump in Battle Over Federal Funding - School to ban masks, empower police and rein in controversial academic department

By: rustybullrake

rustybullrake — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 22:47:51 -0800

From the link subdee shared:

If we accept that the executive branch can simply deport anyone they call a "foreign alien terrorist," then none of us has any rights.

Not to make a habit of reposting my comments from three years ago, but:

It seems like this is just the tip of the spear for impending tyranny. I can't help but think about the 100 Mile Border Zone, containing 2/3 of the population. Or when militarized unidentified officers from the Bureau of Prisons were mobilized in DC. Or the federal officers in unmarked vans in Portland abducting people off the streets. Or how Trump repeatedly called protestors anarchists. Or how Guantanamo Bay is still up and running. Doesn't seem like it would take very much to start removing undesirables and malcontents.

I think we appear to be well on our way to this becoming reality. All the pieces are there, and in my view this administration appears to be easing into it with immigrant "criminals," before they start with US citizen "criminals," and then you only need to decide who qualifies as a "criminal." Here's a brief timeline of headlines which I believe demonstrates this administration's attempts to accustom Americans to the idea of deporting and/or interring American citizens:

October: Trump suggests he'll use the military on 'the enemy from within' the U.S. if he's reelected December: Trump aims to end birthright citizenship, says American citizens with family here illegally may be deported January: Trump floats foreign imprisonment of American criminals who are 'repeat offenders' February: Rubio says El Salvador offers to accept deportees from US of any nationality, including Americans March (today): Trump Threatens to Jail Tesla Vandals in El Salvador Prisons

I think this administration is unlikely to stop with immigrants. They have been explicit in their aims to criminalize the actions of trans people, homeless people, educators, librarians, protestors, pornographers, and those who seek/undergo/facilitate abortions. If you include RFK's "wellness farms," you can add people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities to the list. They've been telling you what they intend to do. I think it would be wise not to doubt them.

By: a non mouse, a cow herd

a non mouse, a cow herd — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 09:49:20 -0800

The Luigi Incident rattled a lot of wealthy people too. Remember Musk's son getting a ride on Daddy's shoulders for weeks after that happened? Oh, that was supposed to humanize Musk? If that was the idea, it certainly fell flat for me. Just showed he would manipulate ANYONE (including his own toddler!) for anything.

By: Nelson

Nelson — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 10:06:25 -0800

What the Venezuelans Deported to El Salvador Experienced. A photojournalist was at the airport in El Salvador and documented what he saw.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 10:07:13 -0800

The implication is he is using his son as a human shield.

By: a non mouse, a cow herd

a non mouse, a cow herd — Sun, 23 Mar 2025 07:41:02 -0800

The implication is he is using his son as a human shield. That's obviously even more gross. That thought didn't even cross my mind. That does sound more like Musk, though.

By: Rykey

Rykey — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:54:50 -0800

The implication is he is using his son as a human shield. That was definitely my takeaway. But maybe he's been seen carrying his son on his shoulders on days that weren't in the aftermath of an assassination of a member of his own class?

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 13:12:46 -0800

Welp, Speaker Johnson is now floating the idea of simply eliminating Federal courts since they keep ruling against Trump. Most darkly hilarious quote from the story:

The Senate also would almost certainly reject any funding bill or package that defunded the courts.

Yeah, right. Sure they will. Second place for hilariously silly things in the article:

Attempts to defund courts will be a major flashpoint in bipartisan funding negotiations for the next fiscal yea

Snort. Sure. I believe that. Got a bridge to sell me? Maybe some altcoin? Oceanfront property in North Dakota?

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 02:26:09 -0800

Trump reiterates US must 'have' Greenland ahead of JD Vance visit PhD student detained by ICE wearing plain clothes and face masks Her name is Rumeysa Ozturk, she's a student from Turkey, attending Tufts as a grad student on a legal visa (sponsored by the university). Her attorney said, "We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her. No charges have been filed against [her] that we are aware of."

By: jedicus

jedicus — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:51:22 -0800

ICE admits to an 'administrative error' after Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison "In response to the error, the government has acknowledged the error but said in a filing that because Abrego-Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the court cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor can the court order El Salvador to return him." So there you go: even when someone is knowingly illegally deported, the US government's position is that there is no remedy. Thus, there is no incentive for the government to avoid errors. What I hope the court does is say "okay, you're right, the court has no power to order his return, but what we can do is hold the government liable for his wrongful incarceration at the (woefully low) federal rate of $50k per year until the government figures out a way to secure his release." But I'm not holding my breath.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 08:38:31 -0800

In my ideal world the court would say "OK well in that case you'll be sent to the same prison, have fun!" I bet once a couple of DOGE types are in that prison in El Salvador somehow, like magic, they'd find a way to get them out. Of course, that would require a functioning justice system and a means of enforcing its rulings. I just. Wow. So does that mean that for 100% of the people Trump sent to the El Salvadorian slave labor and torture camp they are just gone? Vanished into a legalistic black hole where no American can see through the event horizon? How the fuck did we get to this? Masked, unidentified, so-called "ICE Agents" grabbing people off the street, shoving them into unmarked vans, then shipping them to a Republican hellhole in Lousiana prior to sending them to something as near to a Gulag as the modern world has all with no charges, no trials, no nothing just the say so of some rando in the State Department? And we're OK with this? As a nation? No one in Congress is even asking why we have unidentified, masked, secret police kidnapping and disappearing people? Like, seriously, why the fuck is the whole masked unidentified unmarked van thing necessary in the minds of Republicans? And how long before non-DOGE criminal groups start kidnapping people the same way and aren't stopped because they claim to be ICE? How do we know that hasn't already happened multiple times? And what the actual fuck?

By: Nelson

Nelson — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:09:47 -0800

How the fuck did we get to this? Some of the seeds of this were planted in our war in Afghanistan, when we started disappearing "enemy combatants" to torture facilities run by allied nations. And Guantanamo. There was a lot of hand-wringing about legality and ethics then that came to nothing. We tortured a lot of people. We imprisoned over 750 in Guantanamo, 15 are still held there.

By: adrienneleigh

adrienneleigh — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:17:10 -0800

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:31:22 -0800

Indiana University Professor Xiaofeng Wang and his wife Nianli Ma have disappeared, or perhaps were disappeared by the FBI. Indiana University scrubbed he and his wife's information the same day the FBI raided their house, which prompted criticism by academics. Xiaofeng Wang does security research around "confidential computing", not so much cryptography per se, more the security side: e-commerce fraud, adversarial machine learning, Apple's security, exploit detection, some side channels, etc. Xiaofeng Wang was part of the NIH-funded humangenomeprivacy.org effort too. I've never read his papers before, but overall they look like systemic defenses, so near-term only annoying to intelligence agencies, nothing sensitive. It's always possible he was involved in some project that detected government malware of course, but equally possible the FBI just disliked his social graph, or he annoyed someone like Palantir (Peter Thiel) or Open AI (Microsoft). Xiaofeng Wang's research looks quite socially beneficial, so hopefully he made it somewhere safe, not just snatched by the FBI. News articles: register (shortest), ArsTechnica-30-March, TPM-29-March, TPM-30-March, TPM-31-March

By: toastyk

toastyk — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:00:16 -0800

Disappearing a Chinese couple when Marco Rubio decides in this moment to sanction six people in Hong Kong and Beijing to hold to account those responsible for depriving people in Hong Kong of protected rights and freedoms or who commit acts of transnational repression on U.S. soil or against U.S. persons. is honestly just making me want to tear my hair out.

By: jeffburdges

jeffburdges — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:03:14 -0800

Poll Finds That 75% of Scientists Are Thinking About Leaving the U.S. I kinda think the "inter-counter-elites class struggle" model debeloped by Peter Turchin covers this reasonably well.