A federal judge in Massachusetts said Wednesday that the Trump administration was “unquestionably in violation of this court’s order” when it tried to deport eight detainees to South Sudan on Tuesday, because the men didn’t get an opportunity to challenge their removal to that country or any other third-country destination.
US District Judge Brian E. Murphy Found that, in violation of his April 18 order in a class action case, the feds hustled the men onto a deportation flight without due process, ignoring his order that anyone being deported to somewhere other than their home country must be informed of their destination and have the chance to say they fear being tortured or killed if sent there, as if the feds care about that, because as DHS spokescreep Tricia McLaughlin repeatedly said in a presser yesterday, the men were all “monsters,” and you don’t allow due process for monsters, do you?
Here’s video of that presser, which you should not watch if fascism makes you hurl. Note that McLaughlin and other DHS officials repeatedly lie about Judge Murphy, accusing him of wanting to return all the monsters because he loves monsters, when in fact Murphy made clear that the US can deport people, but only if it follows the goddamn Constitution.
Let’s be clear: Unlike the people Trump has disappeared to El Salvador under the phony pretext that they’re enemy combatants in our war with gangs, these were all people who were convicted of serious crimes in the US and completed their prison sentences. They might, as the government claims, be a danger to the public if released, but nobody is arguing they be released.
It’s normal for DHS to deport immigrant crimers after they finish their sentences, but in the case of these detainees, their home countries refused to accept them back. In such cases, it’s also legal to deport people who have standing deportation orders to a third country that agrees to take them. That’s all allowed as long as the deportees have due process, which they have had up until this week.
But the Trump administration is in a hurry, so the Constitution be damned, which is why this is happening, not because Murphy has a soft spot for crimers.
Much of Wednesday’s hearing took place under seal, since the government contends that the details of the deportations, including the country that agreed to take the men, are classified. But after hearing testimony from both sides in private, Murphy explained why the deportation flight wasn’t legal.
Instead of receiving adequate notice of their removal, the detainees, who were imprisoned in Texas, were only notified of their pending removal sometime Monday evening after the close of business hours, then driven to the airport at 9:30 local time Tuesday morning and loaded onto a chartered plane, giving them no time to actually contact an attorney or family members.
fascism in progress