The history of the Alien Enemies Act and its previous implementation have been cited in news reports on these deportations, and it should be underscored. This act was used as justification for the internment of Japanese Americans, among others, during World War II. That chapter in the American saga is a stain on a notably checkered record, and so is what the Trump administration is doing here. The pretext for these persons' removal and detention is based on absent to scant evidence on top of a flimsy pretext. Shameful stuff.
Plus those were abuses of its intended use. It has only been invoked re: war of 1812, WWI and bombing of Pearl Harbor. Not for some made up story about “invasion”. It should be obvious to everyone this was the purpose of that maga “invasion” narrative.
It’s dictators and kings who change the purpose of laws, abuse laws & make their own laws.
It's time for Chief Justice John Roberts to inform Trump about the requirements for "Due Process"! Let's hope the names of the eight Venezuelan prisoners and knowledge of their personal lives by their families will end up protecting these men from life in a high end torture prison. Certainly these men have a better chance of redress than the children separated from their parents a few years ago during Trump's first term in power. Thank you for this detailed work Judd, Rebecca, and Noel.
Exactly. Roberts' court is what created this crisis in the first place. Chief Justice Roberts SCOTUS undid very carefully constructed separations of powers with a single ruling. I don't care who authored it, or wrote the lead opinion. This is The Roberts Court, and as sitting Chief Justice he owns all of it regardless. If his court tenure is named for any good rulings, it owns the crap too.
I don't really need to speculate. I am 100 percent sure that this is a made-up excuse to deport a bunch of immigrants in the fastest way possible. We aren't in a democracy anymore and this is making me unhappy. I didn't like the way the U.S. did stuff before but now it's even worse. )-:
On the other hand, I think Marco's days are numbered. He pushed against Musk but I have a feeling that that cost him. I think he'll be the first to go. I am not taking bets though.
I don't know about that. Rubio lends an air of legitimacy that the rest of Trump's stooges are missing. Plus, I think he enjoys embarrassing Rubio regularly.
I'm still hoping that Musk becomes so toxic that Trump's ego won't let his polling numbers pull him down too. Although it's hard to figure out if/when ego will override his greed.
Joanna, I think you are arguing my side of the issue. The very fact that Rubio "lends an air of legitimacy" (gag) makes him a target. As far as Trump embarrassing Little Marco, well, he gotta have rhinoceros hide for skin but I don't think so. Anyway, the bingo card is on like Donkey Kong. I still say Rubio will go first unless the wrestling woman destroys her agency and got no place to go but home. Or Kennedy chokes on a chicken bone.
Thank you for putting names and faces to the victims of this regime of horror. I honestly thought they could no longer shock me. But then they openly and gleefully posted their sick sadistic herding of human beings like animals, sharing their triumph for our viewing pleasure. It shocked and shook me. I’m still shaking.
What an inversion. This is 'American Carnage' the new reality show! Thanks to the Orange Crevasse and Evilelon, in this new topsy-turvy world, the corpulant criminal corrupts the corruptible and criminalizes the innocent while the co-president hides all the records!
I bet most of these detainees now disappeared if not all are not gang affiliated.
Will we see magats being declared gang members because of their white supremacist or christian nationalist tattoos? Stay tuned.
This isn't going to end well. Even putting aside the terrible human suffering, the economic cost of the internment of Japanese Americans was $1.6 Billion. Of course these reparations were awarded by noted liberal Ronald Reagan so this probably won't happen under the watch of President Musk.
El Salvador is not doing this out of the goodness in their hearts. The US government is paying them $6M/300 detainees/yr. Now, the current administration wants you to understand that this averages out to $20K/detainee/yr, which represents a 57% cost savings for what it would cost to house them in the US! What they don't want you to understand is that in order to house them in Federal detention in the US they would need a conviction of some sort of crime.
The exact amount the Salvadoran government pays the U.S. for the incarceration of deported individuals is not publicly disclosed or specified in official reports. In general, the U.S. has various agreements with Central American countries, including El Salvador, regarding migration management and financial assistance. I unsuccessfully tried researching the latest reports from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or news outlets covering immigration issues. Where did you collect this date set?
Did I say the Salvadoran governement is paying the US? My mistake. It is the US who is paying the Salvadoran Government to take detain these individuals.
I heard it first from the WH press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Monday at her regular press briefing. It was later reported by the New York Post, “It was approximately $6 million to El Salvador for the detention of these foreign terrorists,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her regular briefing Monday.
Ever read any Larry Niven? I forget which book or short story it was but he postulated a future where even the slightest infraction (like a traffic ticket) could have one sent to the organ vats for disassembly and your 'donated organs' put on ice for safe-keeping while the 'buyer' was contacted and prepped.
Sounds like a fine, fine business opportunity. Them poors can't help BUT break the law on account of we got em sewn up so tight. Self feeding machine right chere!
Exactly!!! Flight of the Horse. Ringworld. Puppeteers! All that awesome sci-fi that I in my teens thought would have happened by now. Should have been able to buy a single-ship on credit and make quarterly payments while mining asteroids for iron, nickel and water-ice by now. We have the tech. This is what Evilelmo should have been doing instead of the harm he casually causes.
Horrifying for these men and their families. And shame on us, the citizens of a free nation of laws to do this to men who, according to this reporting, are hard working immigrants just trying to get by.
What a tired playbook: create the boogeyman out of a race/religion/nationality, Make sure everyone is now frightened of this group of people and then do whatever the f you want.
I find this: "the citizens of a free nation of laws" to be a bit aspirational. Some citizens may be 'free', but many of us throughout history not so much; if we are defining 'free' as the OED does, "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint." Ask Mahmoud Khalil if he felt free in this "nation of laws". I think that's also up for debate at this point in history, wouldn't you agree. Up until July 1, 2024 I would have agreed with you that we are a 'nation of laws', but after the Supreme Court ruled presidents cannot be held accountable for their unlawful behavior, and we then elected a felon as our president, who on day one freed 1600 convicts for their assault on our Republic and the men and women who had sworn to protect it. It seems we are now going to see if 'the law' can really hold a nation together.
But I don't hold out a lot of hope, considering this Administration refused to follow U.S. District Judge James Boasberg order to return the detainees back to the US and, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ruled that this Administration “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways” in actions taken against USAID.
You are a godsend ... you & your team's energy and determination is beyond comprehension for most of us... we would have folded long ago... your site is priceless and am so glad I have been with you all these years.... thank you thank you
These personal stories are important reminders of the human cost of allowing this maniacal administration to continue destroying American decency and democracy. The only proven criminal is the convicted felon who occupies the Oval Office.
More than that, I see a re-alignment of who the allies of the US are. The “coolest dictator” as the pres of El Salvador calls himself. Victor Orban. Putin of course.
$6M/yr/300 detainees. Their facility can hold up to 40,000. I doubt this will be the last "shipment". Afterall, President Trump has declared this an "invasion" and said during his campaign (without providing evidence) that "Kamala Harris has allowed 21 million illegals to pour in from all over the world.” He has "promised" to deport them all. Good thing he is only detaining the "worst of the worst", because that's a LOT of $6Ms (like $420B worth)
So do I. These days having a tattoo they don’t like is not merely getting people detainment but designated as ‘worst of the worst.’ This particular gang doesn’t have a gang insignia or much of an organizational structure. It has all the earmarks of an over-hyped photo op for a sensational story to distract from how they are trampling all over our laws.
It is so important that you are doing this. Thank you!
Thank you for covering this deportation travesty with the stories of innocents who have been deported.
The history of the Alien Enemies Act and its previous implementation have been cited in news reports on these deportations, and it should be underscored. This act was used as justification for the internment of Japanese Americans, among others, during World War II. That chapter in the American saga is a stain on a notably checkered record, and so is what the Trump administration is doing here. The pretext for these persons' removal and detention is based on absent to scant evidence on top of a flimsy pretext. Shameful stuff.
Plus those were abuses of its intended use. It has only been invoked re: war of 1812, WWI and bombing of Pearl Harbor. Not for some made up story about “invasion”. It should be obvious to everyone this was the purpose of that maga “invasion” narrative.
It’s dictators and kings who change the purpose of laws, abuse laws & make their own laws.
The Commander in Chief has a longer rap sheet than some of the deportees. What's wrong with this picture?
Excellent reporting folks!
Good point, BTAM, and I have more tattoos than some of those arrested and deported. Does that make me a gang member lol?
You're not Hispanic.
It's time for Chief Justice John Roberts to inform Trump about the requirements for "Due Process"! Let's hope the names of the eight Venezuelan prisoners and knowledge of their personal lives by their families will end up protecting these men from life in a high end torture prison. Certainly these men have a better chance of redress than the children separated from their parents a few years ago during Trump's first term in power. Thank you for this detailed work Judd, Rebecca, and Noel.
As if he'd listen. He's already ignored court orders. Why would he listen to Roberts now?
Exactly. Roberts' court is what created this crisis in the first place. Chief Justice Roberts SCOTUS undid very carefully constructed separations of powers with a single ruling. I don't care who authored it, or wrote the lead opinion. This is The Roberts Court, and as sitting Chief Justice he owns all of it regardless. If his court tenure is named for any good rulings, it owns the crap too.
I don't really need to speculate. I am 100 percent sure that this is a made-up excuse to deport a bunch of immigrants in the fastest way possible. We aren't in a democracy anymore and this is making me unhappy. I didn't like the way the U.S. did stuff before but now it's even worse. )-:
Exactly! This is the new reality show.
Marco Rubio owns this, and I hope the things he's doing for this administration haunt him every day of his life!
They will. They are haunting him now. But he is determined to stay the course no matter how deep the pit he will bury himself in gets.
On the other hand, I think Marco's days are numbered. He pushed against Musk but I have a feeling that that cost him. I think he'll be the first to go. I am not taking bets though.
I don't know about that. Rubio lends an air of legitimacy that the rest of Trump's stooges are missing. Plus, I think he enjoys embarrassing Rubio regularly.
I'm still hoping that Musk becomes so toxic that Trump's ego won't let his polling numbers pull him down too. Although it's hard to figure out if/when ego will override his greed.
Joanna, I think you are arguing my side of the issue. The very fact that Rubio "lends an air of legitimacy" (gag) makes him a target. As far as Trump embarrassing Little Marco, well, he gotta have rhinoceros hide for skin but I don't think so. Anyway, the bingo card is on like Donkey Kong. I still say Rubio will go first unless the wrestling woman destroys her agency and got no place to go but home. Or Kennedy chokes on a chicken bone.
I hear a blues song lyric in there. Brava!
See my reply to Katy
And now the bingo cards' on... like it's Donkey Kong
And the wrestling 'lady' well, she got to take her ass home
And out there that Krazy old Kennedy chokes on a chicken bone
It's American Carnage that new place that we call our home!
Thank you for putting names and faces to the victims of this regime of horror. I honestly thought they could no longer shock me. But then they openly and gleefully posted their sick sadistic herding of human beings like animals, sharing their triumph for our viewing pleasure. It shocked and shook me. I’m still shaking.
It makes me sick to my stomach.
me too
What an inversion. This is 'American Carnage' the new reality show! Thanks to the Orange Crevasse and Evilelon, in this new topsy-turvy world, the corpulant criminal corrupts the corruptible and criminalizes the innocent while the co-president hides all the records!
I bet most of these detainees now disappeared if not all are not gang affiliated.
Will we see magats being declared gang members because of their white supremacist or christian nationalist tattoos? Stay tuned.
This isn't going to end well. Even putting aside the terrible human suffering, the economic cost of the internment of Japanese Americans was $1.6 Billion. Of course these reparations were awarded by noted liberal Ronald Reagan so this probably won't happen under the watch of President Musk.
El Salvador is not doing this out of the goodness in their hearts. The US government is paying them $6M/300 detainees/yr. Now, the current administration wants you to understand that this averages out to $20K/detainee/yr, which represents a 57% cost savings for what it would cost to house them in the US! What they don't want you to understand is that in order to house them in Federal detention in the US they would need a conviction of some sort of crime.
The exact amount the Salvadoran government pays the U.S. for the incarceration of deported individuals is not publicly disclosed or specified in official reports. In general, the U.S. has various agreements with Central American countries, including El Salvador, regarding migration management and financial assistance. I unsuccessfully tried researching the latest reports from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or news outlets covering immigration issues. Where did you collect this date set?
Did I say the Salvadoran governement is paying the US? My mistake. It is the US who is paying the Salvadoran Government to take detain these individuals.
I heard it first from the WH press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, on Monday at her regular press briefing. It was later reported by the New York Post, “It was approximately $6 million to El Salvador for the detention of these foreign terrorists,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at her regular briefing Monday.
Pres Musk would want to ration oxygen and charge all us poors to breath if he could.
Harvest our organs and sell them if he thought he could get away with it.
Ever read any Larry Niven? I forget which book or short story it was but he postulated a future where even the slightest infraction (like a traffic ticket) could have one sent to the organ vats for disassembly and your 'donated organs' put on ice for safe-keeping while the 'buyer' was contacted and prepped.
Sounds like a fine, fine business opportunity. Them poors can't help BUT break the law on account of we got em sewn up so tight. Self feeding machine right chere!
Yup, I remember that story well. I think it was part of his "Known Space" universe.
Exactly!!! Flight of the Horse. Ringworld. Puppeteers! All that awesome sci-fi that I in my teens thought would have happened by now. Should have been able to buy a single-ship on credit and make quarterly payments while mining asteroids for iron, nickel and water-ice by now. We have the tech. This is what Evilelmo should have been doing instead of the harm he casually causes.
Horrifying for these men and their families. And shame on us, the citizens of a free nation of laws to do this to men who, according to this reporting, are hard working immigrants just trying to get by.
What a tired playbook: create the boogeyman out of a race/religion/nationality, Make sure everyone is now frightened of this group of people and then do whatever the f you want.
Shame on us.
I find this: "the citizens of a free nation of laws" to be a bit aspirational. Some citizens may be 'free', but many of us throughout history not so much; if we are defining 'free' as the OED does, "the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint." Ask Mahmoud Khalil if he felt free in this "nation of laws". I think that's also up for debate at this point in history, wouldn't you agree. Up until July 1, 2024 I would have agreed with you that we are a 'nation of laws', but after the Supreme Court ruled presidents cannot be held accountable for their unlawful behavior, and we then elected a felon as our president, who on day one freed 1600 convicts for their assault on our Republic and the men and women who had sworn to protect it. It seems we are now going to see if 'the law' can really hold a nation together.
But I don't hold out a lot of hope, considering this Administration refused to follow U.S. District Judge James Boasberg order to return the detainees back to the US and, U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ruled that this Administration “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways” in actions taken against USAID.
You are a godsend ... you & your team's energy and determination is beyond comprehension for most of us... we would have folded long ago... your site is priceless and am so glad I have been with you all these years.... thank you thank you
Thank you for these names and stories. Such important work!
And I hope you have good security, Judd. This admin hates it when we put names to faces, hence all the bowed heads/hidden faces. 🥺
Remember the good old days when we were ashamed of how we detained people under the AEA? What have we become???
Some of us still do cringe…
These personal stories are important reminders of the human cost of allowing this maniacal administration to continue destroying American decency and democracy. The only proven criminal is the convicted felon who occupies the Oval Office.
HORRIFYING! The Gestapo is back.
Such great reporting! I wonder how much $ El Salvador taking in their role in this.
For now, $6Million /yr.
More than that, I see a re-alignment of who the allies of the US are. The “coolest dictator” as the pres of El Salvador calls himself. Victor Orban. Putin of course.
Meanwhile, ICE has detained several German nationals who were tourists. Canceling visas and then arresting students and visitors. Marco Rubio says the government is reviewing and revoking more student visas “every day.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2025/03/18/international-students-navigate-escalating-threats
$6M/yr/300 detainees. Their facility can hold up to 40,000. I doubt this will be the last "shipment". Afterall, President Trump has declared this an "invasion" and said during his campaign (without providing evidence) that "Kamala Harris has allowed 21 million illegals to pour in from all over the world.” He has "promised" to deport them all. Good thing he is only detaining the "worst of the worst", because that's a LOT of $6Ms (like $420B worth)
It is a notorious prison apparently with excess capacity. We’ll see what this “cool” guy actually wants in return.
I doubt it will just be alleged gang members, either.
So do I. These days having a tattoo they don’t like is not merely getting people detainment but designated as ‘worst of the worst.’ This particular gang doesn’t have a gang insignia or much of an organizational structure. It has all the earmarks of an over-hyped photo op for a sensational story to distract from how they are trampling all over our laws.
https://apnews.com/article/tren-de-aragua-gang-venezuela-trump-40ec0390047c2b17e961dd029da02e65