Cutting Through The Crap
By 1. Immigrants build our houses, grow our food, care for our children and parents. They own restaurants and pick up our garbage. They do scientific research and they staff our hospitals as doctors and nurses. They work in banks and other financial institutions. Many of them fled untenable situations in their home countries.
2. Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than citizens.
3. Very few immigrants are members of gangs. There was a situation in Aurora, Colorado, earlier this year that seems to have been resolved.
4. The government has admitted that they wrongly identified Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a member of Tren de Aragua and sent him to the CECOT prison in El Salvador, a country in which his visa said he would be in danger.
5. Nonetheless, the government is doing everything it can to delay bringing him back. Despite their bullshit, they could bring him back at any time.
5.a. It appears that others sent to CECOT may have been wrongly identified, and that none of them had due process.
The mass deportations Donald Trump whipped his crowds into shouting for are not possible, as some of us said before the election. The reasons are that there simply are not masses of people who can legally be deported. Trump was lying. So they are going for shock value and prison porn to frighten people.
It’s worth recalling that last year about this time, a genuinely bipartisan – that is, negotiated by a team of Republicans and Democrats – bill on reforming immigration laws and procedures was before Congress. Trump demanded it be withdrawn because he wanted immigration as a campaign issue, and his Republican toadies obeyed.
In the court case to release Abrego Garcia, the plaintiffs have asked Judge Paula Xinis to begin contempt proceedings against the government. The government has said that Abrego Garcia is alive and in the El Salvadoran prison. Xinis wants them to give her the contract, or whatever the agreement is, between the US and El Salvador to use CECOT. The government so far has not done that.
Another hearing at 5 pm Eastern Time today.