The situation at Dulles International Airport remains tense, with rumors flying about what a rogue Customs and Border Patrol is doing there. There are credible enough reports that detainees there are being sent offsite to cause attorneys there to investigate. There are also reports that U.S. passport holders are being singled out and asked to provide their social media handles. What we know for sure is that the CBP continues to defy the court order to provide the detainees access to attorneys. Multiple members of Congress have been turned away, with CBP refusing to talk with the people who hold the purse strings to their agency.
So who can do anything about it? The U.S. Attorney in Virginia, still an Obama appointee, is representing the CPB and apparently working on . . . something.
“Yesterday was horrific,” Mirriam Seddiq says of Saturday night at the airport, when confusion reigned and the constitutional crisis unfolded. She says things calmed down a lot on Sunday.
According to Seddiq, when the lawyers again pointed to the court order, the CBP agents were nice and polite but said, “We understand, but it’s not going to happen. ... We are not allowed to talk to you. Here’s our number for public affairs.” […]
Dan Press, another lawyer on the scene, says that there is a separate litigation team working on compliance with the court order. “We’ve been in touch all day with the U.S. attorney’s office, which is representing the CBP. They’re on it. We’re making progress. I mean we’re not making progress on the access to counsel issue. But we’re making progress on some other issues,” he says.
“For instance on the green card holders, having the green card holder ban be lifted is a huge testament to all of the work these people have done,” Seddiq says.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his Attorney General Mark Herring are trying to get answers as well.
Herring has written to Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, other federal officials, and the U.S. Attorney. In a statement Herring says, "While we wait for President Trump and his administration to come forward with the information the people of Virginia deserve and demand, we will continue to examine all options for the state to oppose this un-American and unlawful executive order."
The Trump regime is flouting the courts and Congress, straight up. The only people who can enforce the court order are U.S. Marshals, part of Trump's Justice Department. Maybe the judge could show up at the airport and call all of the CPB agents in contempt of court, but short of that the rule of law is out the door at Dulles.