Twists in the Trump Administration's deportations to El Salvador
Both the Supreme Court and the Trump Administration have reversed course a bit on deportation and due process issues challenged in court.
We reported in May that the Supreme Court released a unanimous decision reiterating the right to due process by all people in the United States, including the requirement that undocumented immigrants be given reasonable notice before deportation – and that the Trump Administration immediately disregarded their ruling. Since then, both the Supreme Court and the Trump Administration have reversed course a bit.
The Administration struck a deal on July 18 with the leaders of Venezuela and El Salvador to swap prisoners. Ten American prisoners held by Venezuela were returned home, and the 250 Venezuelan immigrants deported — or perhaps more accurately, detained — by the Trump Administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, CECOT, were released to Venezuela. At least one of the Venezuelans, makeup artist Andry Hernandez Romero, had previously fled Venezuela due to safety concerns and was working through an asylum case before being deported.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man deported to CECOT based on a clerical error, was returned by the Trump Administration to the United States on June 7 to face domestic criminal charges related to the alleged smuggling of immigrants into the U.S. He remains in custody by his lawyers’ request, despite Judge Barbara Holmes’s ruling that he should be released pre-trial, due to concerns that he would be deported again before his trial date. Assistant Director for ICE, Thomas Giles, has testified that Mexico or South Sudan might accept Garcia.
This is the case where the White House said mockingly in a tweet that Garcia is “Never Coming Back.” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Garcia’s return in April. At the time, the Trump Administration said they weren’t able to facilitate his return. Garcia is suing the Administration over his deportation, and Xinis denied the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that the government clearly did have the power to bring him back in accordance with her order. This was further proven by Salvadoran testimony to United Nations investigators that those deported from the U.S. to CECOT remained under U.S. control.
In June, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s order that required the government provide a 15-day notice to immigrants being deported to countries that they aren’t from. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy ordered that deportees were entitled to enough notice for an interview to determine whether they had a credible fear of harm in the country they were being deported to. The case went through the Supreme Court’s “emergency docket” and they ruled that Murphy’s ruling was “unenforceable”, putting the decision on hold while the lower courts continue to hash out how much notice the government has to provide before deporting immigrants to third countries. The ruling resulted in the deportation of several men to war-torn South Sudan with little notice or due process.
Correction: This article originally had me, Josh, as the author because I forgot to change the default byline when I uploaded the article. But Brandi wrote it! Apologies for stealing credit, Brandi! -Josh
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In haggling over *how long* before deportation ICE has before it deports, we seem to establish 2 forms of Justice: One for some who will have full access to the courts, including appeals until they are exhausted, for people like Mr. Trump and Another for poorer people who do not have the money, the Juice with Mr. Trump or the time to defend themselves.
Once you introduce into "Justice" the notion that is must be done within a certain time frame, folks who may be innocent may not be able to get "their day in Court".
"Their day in Court": Isn't that a quaint expression when the Rich and Powerful can drag their case until most witnesses can be bought... or die unexpectedly! [At least 3 victims of Mr. Epstein have all died by "suicide", Mr. Epstein's 'suicide is increasingly suspect and another, Jean-Luc Brunel hung himself with his sheets after his suicide 'watch' was removed.
Another corruptor of Justice, much graver, Is the quota [imposed by whom, for what purpose] that we must deport *at least* 3,000 people per day. I challenge those who put forth this number to prove that 1/ there are that many criminals among the "undocumented" 2/ that it is feasible without ensnaring Innocents or American people.
The evidence so far of people who have been ensnared illegally is mounting.