The entire basis for these inflammatory accusations against Abrego Garcia, parroted proudly by Noem and Vance in statements with objective falsehoods added, likely comes from the word of a single anonymous informant who almost certainly had their own motivations for naming someone as a gang member. We’ve seen how flimsy this “evidence” can be… remember when Trump actually thought the characters M, S, 1, and 3 were literally tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s fingers, when it was actually just an obvious photoshop job intended to mislead people about the meaning of the symbols tattooed below the photoshopped characters? To Terry Moran who had just tried to steer an interview back on track, Moran saying the tattoos were interpreted by some as gang related but there was no proof, Trump got upset and cried: “Don’t do that! M, S, one, three, it says M, S, one, three!” It’s hilarious until you remember it is destroying actual lives.
Innocent people are being labeled gang members based on a points system that awards multiple points for completely innocuous things like popular generic tattoos, sports jerseys, or simply knowing someone else who accumulated points in this same arbitrary system. It’s so easy to make anyone sound like a gang member when you’re working with criteria this loose. In fact, using their own logic, MAGA itself could easily be classified as a gang. Here’s how you identify a MAGA gang member using their point system - and remember, 10 points is enough to shave someone’s head and deport them to Epstein Island: wearing a red hat (10 points), using the phrase “that’s just my opinion” after being proven wrong (4 points), owning more than three guns (5 points), having a Punisher skull sticker (3 points), attending a rally where violence was threatened (7 points), participating in January 6th (39 points), owning a Confederate flag (12 points), using racial slurs (13 points), threatening election workers (21 points).
But on a more serious note, if you haven’t heard about the government lawyer who’s blowing the whistle on his treatment after years of loyal service - even during Trump’s first term, when he was beloved by MAGA - his story is chilling. He fell from grace simply because he had to admit that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was an administrative error, or else commit obvious perjury. His name is Erez Reuveni, and his testimony reveals how even those who bend over backwards to give Trump the benefit of the doubt can have their lives destroyed if they choose loyalty to the Constitution over total submission to Trump. His story is terrifying because it shows how much of this is happening behind closed doors, and we only learn about it when the rare person with enough courage speaks out. I can only imagine the amount of tell-all books that are going to come out once people feel like the leverage against their livelihoods eventually fades away.
As quoted in the piece, "When ICE can threaten to send someone to Uganda within minutes of their court-ordered release, when the government can use deportation as a tool to force confessions of guilt, when federal agencies can coordinate to circumvent judicial orders, we've abandoned any pretense that immigration enforcement serves legitimate government interests."
This is what scares me the most. It doesn't matter if he is guilty or not. This is a 5-alarm fire when we are abandoning the very principle our country was founded on, the rule of law.
I’ve seen reports that border crossings are at an all time low. It would seem that the border crisis is now not what it was. I would love to see from the Trump admin or ideally Congress what the next steps are. Immigration itself is still a mess. And we need immigrants in this country (and not in a to work jobs Americans don’t want to way). What are the plans to overhaul the immigration system to that it is beneficial and humane for all? This is something I have been asking of presidents and Congress for years (not that they hear me). I’d love to know given that they are perfectly poised to do so now, what their plans are. I haven’t heard much.
This obsession with one immigrant is doing nothing to make me feel safer in my community, is doing nothing to decrease prices or to ensure the dignity of immigrants currently living in my community. It really feels like they prefer things that get them good photos for social media over making good policy.
Amber I think that’s kinda the point. This current admin has no plan other than to reduce as much immigration into this country as possible. Which at this rate, doesn’t require reform. Stephen Miller has made it quite plain that he is a white supremacist and white nationalist. Your tactic of asking the question is probably more effective in getting folks who voted for this admin to question what they are doing regarding legal immigration, but the already known answer is not one that many want to hear, I think.
I think we have to keep calling our Congresspeople and demanding that they do THEIR jobs for the people they represent, not just what the president demands. This is why Trump stopped Congress last year from putting forward their bipartisan immigration reform legislation. He wanted the spectacle for his base, who does not seem to care that they're targeting any and all immigrants, rather than just those who have committed major crimes and do not have a protected status. Now we have insane budgets for ICE and internment camps, but when there aren't enough of the actual bad guys (because that was just a talking point to begin with), they have to make do with everyone who even looks like they could be from another country...while also trampling on the rights to due process, freedom of speech, and freedom from unlawful searches and seizures. We're in dangerous times.
One of the most terrifying and damning sentences in this article:
“Uganda recently signed an agreement with the US to accept deportees who "may not be granted asylum in the United States but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin" — but that deal explicitly excludes individuals with criminal records.”
I am tired of so many things, but the main thing that makes me want to scream is hearing people say "He can't do that. It is not legal." But he is doing it. Or "This is un-American". Guess what? It is American now. There is no plan to all this beside intimidation and fear. When they are ignoring the courts, so not even that is stopping them or slowing them down - can we say that we are way out past the border of democracy?
The entire basis for these inflammatory accusations against Abrego Garcia, parroted proudly by Noem and Vance in statements with objective falsehoods added, likely comes from the word of a single anonymous informant who almost certainly had their own motivations for naming someone as a gang member. We’ve seen how flimsy this “evidence” can be… remember when Trump actually thought the characters M, S, 1, and 3 were literally tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s fingers, when it was actually just an obvious photoshop job intended to mislead people about the meaning of the symbols tattooed below the photoshopped characters? To Terry Moran who had just tried to steer an interview back on track, Moran saying the tattoos were interpreted by some as gang related but there was no proof, Trump got upset and cried: “Don’t do that! M, S, one, three, it says M, S, one, three!” It’s hilarious until you remember it is destroying actual lives.
Innocent people are being labeled gang members based on a points system that awards multiple points for completely innocuous things like popular generic tattoos, sports jerseys, or simply knowing someone else who accumulated points in this same arbitrary system. It’s so easy to make anyone sound like a gang member when you’re working with criteria this loose. In fact, using their own logic, MAGA itself could easily be classified as a gang. Here’s how you identify a MAGA gang member using their point system - and remember, 10 points is enough to shave someone’s head and deport them to Epstein Island: wearing a red hat (10 points), using the phrase “that’s just my opinion” after being proven wrong (4 points), owning more than three guns (5 points), having a Punisher skull sticker (3 points), attending a rally where violence was threatened (7 points), participating in January 6th (39 points), owning a Confederate flag (12 points), using racial slurs (13 points), threatening election workers (21 points).
But on a more serious note, if you haven’t heard about the government lawyer who’s blowing the whistle on his treatment after years of loyal service - even during Trump’s first term, when he was beloved by MAGA - his story is chilling. He fell from grace simply because he had to admit that Abrego Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador was an administrative error, or else commit obvious perjury. His name is Erez Reuveni, and his testimony reveals how even those who bend over backwards to give Trump the benefit of the doubt can have their lives destroyed if they choose loyalty to the Constitution over total submission to Trump. His story is terrifying because it shows how much of this is happening behind closed doors, and we only learn about it when the rare person with enough courage speaks out. I can only imagine the amount of tell-all books that are going to come out once people feel like the leverage against their livelihoods eventually fades away.
Timothy, you wonder how many tell-all books will be written?
How many books have been written about Nazi Germany?
Same.
As quoted in the piece, "When ICE can threaten to send someone to Uganda within minutes of their court-ordered release, when the government can use deportation as a tool to force confessions of guilt, when federal agencies can coordinate to circumvent judicial orders, we've abandoned any pretense that immigration enforcement serves legitimate government interests."
This is what scares me the most. It doesn't matter if he is guilty or not. This is a 5-alarm fire when we are abandoning the very principle our country was founded on, the rule of law.
Exactly! How there are Americans who don’t take this threat deeply and personally is beyond me.
I’ve seen reports that border crossings are at an all time low. It would seem that the border crisis is now not what it was. I would love to see from the Trump admin or ideally Congress what the next steps are. Immigration itself is still a mess. And we need immigrants in this country (and not in a to work jobs Americans don’t want to way). What are the plans to overhaul the immigration system to that it is beneficial and humane for all? This is something I have been asking of presidents and Congress for years (not that they hear me). I’d love to know given that they are perfectly poised to do so now, what their plans are. I haven’t heard much.
This obsession with one immigrant is doing nothing to make me feel safer in my community, is doing nothing to decrease prices or to ensure the dignity of immigrants currently living in my community. It really feels like they prefer things that get them good photos for social media over making good policy.
Amber I think that’s kinda the point. This current admin has no plan other than to reduce as much immigration into this country as possible. Which at this rate, doesn’t require reform. Stephen Miller has made it quite plain that he is a white supremacist and white nationalist. Your tactic of asking the question is probably more effective in getting folks who voted for this admin to question what they are doing regarding legal immigration, but the already known answer is not one that many want to hear, I think.
I think we have to keep calling our Congresspeople and demanding that they do THEIR jobs for the people they represent, not just what the president demands. This is why Trump stopped Congress last year from putting forward their bipartisan immigration reform legislation. He wanted the spectacle for his base, who does not seem to care that they're targeting any and all immigrants, rather than just those who have committed major crimes and do not have a protected status. Now we have insane budgets for ICE and internment camps, but when there aren't enough of the actual bad guys (because that was just a talking point to begin with), they have to make do with everyone who even looks like they could be from another country...while also trampling on the rights to due process, freedom of speech, and freedom from unlawful searches and seizures. We're in dangerous times.
Amber, please keep asking! That’s what is needed. We must continue to demand they do their job, or we must vote them out.
One of the most terrifying and damning sentences in this article:
“Uganda recently signed an agreement with the US to accept deportees who "may not be granted asylum in the United States but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin" — but that deal explicitly excludes individuals with criminal records.”
I am tired of so many things, but the main thing that makes me want to scream is hearing people say "He can't do that. It is not legal." But he is doing it. Or "This is un-American". Guess what? It is American now. There is no plan to all this beside intimidation and fear. When they are ignoring the courts, so not even that is stopping them or slowing them down - can we say that we are way out past the border of democracy?
The cruelity and abuse of human rights truly sickens me. I am so ashamed of what is done in the name of America First.
Day by day take over by this administration is so scary. Tired of congress letting it happen .