The U.S. just took a giant leap towards authoritarianism
Shaky legal claims and an ever-changing story by the Trump administration over deportations to an El Salvadoran work camp are worrying, but the precedent it sets is worse
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Members of the Trump administration have released contradictory statements about the 238 Venezuelans deported by ICE to the infamous El Salvadoran prison CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center on Saturday, March 15, but they all agree on one crucial point — none of those currently imprisoned had any chance to defend themselves in a court of law, or any legal due process at all.
Beyond that outlier point of consensus, however, administration statements have been chaotic, and at times in conflict with claims made by other government officials.
The White House says 137 of the men are members of the Venezuelan gang the Tren de Aragua, and that others are “dangerous criminals” and “illegal aliens”. On March 14 Trump declared the Tren a “terrorist organization” under an obscure 1798 U.S. law — the “Alien Enemies Act” — which grants broad powers to the executive branch to wave civil protections for non-citizens with nationalities of hostile countries in times of war or invasion.