It’s late and it’s been a long, painful (back problem) day. Another in a string of rough days BUT I know a person and family that have been dealing with far worse. In case you missed it the Trump Gang ‘accidentally on purpose’ published Garcia’s Maryland address forcing his wife and kids to flee to a safe house. That Team Trump did that is typically despicable but it turns out this matter is FAR worse than we knew. We now know that initially officials at State and elsewhere were working on getting the ‘mistakenly’ deported Abrego Garcia returned to the U.S. In fact, they’ve done it before with other mistaken deportations! However Trump got involved and put a STOP to all that.
I’ll try to make this short and simple. I’d recommend reading this entire article from The Atlantic but here are the basics. If you haven’t followed this story the administration has tried different themes and explanations about how even though there was a freaking court order entered during Trump’s first term not only that he not be deported, but specifically NOT to his native El Salvador which of course is exactly where ICE sent him. The courts have weighed in, all the way up to SCOTUS and pretty much order Trump to take the needed steps to return Garcia to the U.S.
As I said, initially there were people working to do just that. But as the linked article says the longer this has gone on the deeper Trump has dug in. The Atlantic points out almost daily comments to the effect Garcia will never touch American soil again, and now there’s a post on social media calling him a terrorist and dangerous criminal and that “He’s NOT coming back!” Again, that’s not how the administration started off when news broke of Garcia being ‘mistakenly’ (I call bullshit. ICE knew damned well he wasn’t supposed to be deported!) sent to that notorious prison in El Salvador:
But in the days after the administration first discovered its mistake, instead of trying to foreclose Abrego Garcia’s return, officials looked for ways to bring him home. They puzzled over the fragmentary evidence tying him to gang membership. And they worried about his safety in a prison where he could be targeted for attack.
The article describes how the lawsuit filed by Garcia’s family prompted urgent discussions between State, DOJ and DHS. It also notes previously unreported discussions about the facts they had turning out to have been at odds with what was coming out of other places, the WH in particular. Remember, for all the bluster about Garcia being a a “criminal” and a “gang (MS-13) member they haven’t provided a bit of proof that’s met muster in any court. However, for Trump who PAINTS HIS FACE ORANGE the only court that matters is public opinion and there are more than enough MAGAs including in the administration, Congress and the media to make like KellyAnne Conway and spread “Alternative Facts” like a farmer spreading manure.
Again I want to note that initially normal and reasonable steps were underway to undo the mistaken deportation. The idea was even floated a few days after the lawsuit was filed to have someone go to El Salvador for direct discussions about getting Garcia released to U.S. Custody. But all that changed:
But as criticism of the administration over its mishandling of the case spread, White House officials took over the response and began striking a far more strident tone in their public statements. They swiftly turned an admission of bureaucratic error into a political opportunity—a chance to flex executive authority and test the judicial branch’s ability to restrain presidential power. Abrego Garcia’s deportation became far more than just the case of one man; it developed into a measure of whether Donald Trump’s administration can send people—citizens or not—to foreign prisons without due process. All the while, Abrego Garcia has remained in detention in El Salvador, unable to communicate with his lawyers or his family.
Trump has deliberately and with malice of forethought decided to create the hill not HE, but Garcia will DIE on. Think about it. I can just picture Stephen Miller and him yukking it up over what’s been done. Trump is in the midst of the biggest power play any President has tried. He wants to make a declaration he’s “Trump! Lord and God. And everyone including SCOTUS are powerless and that he (Trump) will bring down his wrath on anyone who dares to tell him what he can or can’t do!” Remember, courts including SCOTUS have already ordered him to “facilitate” Garcia’s return and he’s blown them off. So much so that at the lower, District level DOJ lawyers already have judges telling them in open court they’ve been acting in bad faith. Even threatening criminal contempt.
I wonder how with this knew information judges will react next week when DOJ lawyers try to defend the administration. What so many figured was the case turns out to have been true – Trump not only has never had ANY intention of making ANY effort to secure Garcia’s release from prison and return to the U.S., he never did! Worse, it’s clear Trump and his pal Miller were looking for EXACTLY this kind of situation. I don’t know how much uglier this whole thing will get but I’m sure we are nowhere near close to the worst.
****** Zoomers, we would happily accept a small donation to defray expenses as we trek through cyberspace. It’s going to get a lot crazier, that much we can guarantee you. Thanks. Ursula ******
Wow! Contempt of multiple court orders!
I know of at least 2 – Judge Boasberg and Judge Xinis.
And this is HORRIFYING.
🤔 I think, Denis, it got uglier yesterday when a judge was arrested in her courthouse and the chief law enforcement officer in this country (officially that is AG Bondi, not Trump as he believes) went on TV “news” to further poison the already tainted case! Bizarro Bondi is in the business of intimidating judges so she took her upside-down world to FauxNews and squawked that “no one is above the law!” 🙃 In reality, everything about the obstruction of justice charge against Judge Dugan is extra-judicial and will be dismissed. But, Bondi’s work is already done. Any officers of the court who are susceptible to her intimidation are already questioning themselves and their next moves. 🥵
🤨 But, I am hopeful that the blunt instruments Bondi is using (nuance and finesse are tools with which she is unfamiliar) are teaching all of us more about the law than Bondi wants us to know. Many of us now know the difference between an administrative warrant, which is what the ICE/FBI/DA task force had in hand, and a judicial warrant, which is what they should have had to arrest Flores-Ruiz in a courtroom. And, now we know that Dugan was correct to question the “task force” (quite a show of power to detain one li’l ol’ immigrant, doncha think?) and to tell Flores-Ruiz that his business in her courtroom was concluded and he was free to leave. The task force didn’t arrest Flores-Ruiz in the public hallway outside the courtroom, in the public elevator they all used to get to the ground floor, or in the public lobby of the courthouse. Flores-Ruiz was taken into custody out on the street. That’s a pretty clear indication that the task force knew, after already being confronted by a judge about what constitutes a public space, it should wait until public space could not be questioned! Thank you, Pam Bondi. My law internship is paying off every day under your tutelage!! 😁
If you can’t get past the Atlantic’s paywall, you can always go to archive.is, enter the URL, and click on “save.” Chances are, particularly with an article like this on an issue so many people, and especially literate people care about, someone else will have done it first. So just read it there, or copy the URL at the top and then you can go to it nd/or share it.
Hi, Denis. Thanks for sharing this info with us. All I can share with you is a vocabulary note.
You wrote, “Trump has deliberately and with malice of forethought decided to create the hill not HE, but Garcia will DIE on.”
It is not “malice of forethought.” The phrase you wanted is “malice aforethought.”
As online AI explains it: In legal contexts, “aforethought” means thought about or planned before an action, especially in the context of “malice aforethought”