The Trump administration has been looking for places to stash the legal (oops) and illegal immigrants, as well as, if we’re being honest, U.S. citizens it’s been rounding up before it can ship them off, back to their country of origin. Along with typical immigration holding facilities, Border Czar Tom “Himmler” Homan has been trying to stash people in Guantanamo and Riker’s Island, NY. Homan was so giddy about Riker’s Island, in fact, he called it, “A game changer.” This is the same Homan who said he’s going to ignore judges’ decisions’ regarding stays of deportation and the like. Himmler Homan has proved this isn’t bluster. He’s deported a Brown University doctor despite a legal entry and status and judge’s order saying she should stay in country.
In addition, he’s deported alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador, doing so under rarely used wartime authority: the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. This allows the president to deport noncitizens deemed a threat during times of conflict, usually meaning something akin to war, not alleged gang activity, but why let little details like what the law means get in the way? The deportations happened despite a judge’s order saying they shouldn’t because, well, the use of a law from 1798 seemed, in a word, bogus. The only “conflict” going on, honestly, is in the macerated remains of the brains of those in Trump Administration.
It is these deportations to El Salvador that has earned the CECOT prision (an acronym for Terrorism Confinement Centre in Spanish) the honor of being named Concentration Camp #3 of the Trump Administration. Now, to be fair, Gitmo is no longer hosting deportees at this time, but the administration reserves the right to send “high threat” types there in the future. In fact, some of those sent to El Salvador were part of the same Venezuelan gang that were originally sent to Gitmo—maybe even the same people who were sent to Gitmo before. I hope those guys get all the frequent flyer miles.
About CECOT, itself: is not known for having the nicest conditions, having been called nothing less than a “black hole of human rights,” with overcrowding (i.e. a concentrated population) despite being able to house 40,000 people at a time. While not a classic example, CECOT and these deportees fit snugly within the definition of concentration camp: A camp, where inmates are concentrated, in horrible conditions, with little accountability, and outside judicial protections.
That El Salvador is the landing place for the deportees is no surprise. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, is Central America’s version of the former president of the Phillipines, Rodrigo Dutarte, another “tough on crime” president that Trump admired. What is troubling in all this is not just that the deportees have been sent to a prison from which they may never leave and no one will ever know, but it’s the attitude of the Trump adminstration.
In talking about the deportees, and in response to the fact that some of them don’t have criminal records, the administration has stated that a lack of a criminal record “does not indicate they pose a limited threat,” according to a sworn statement from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official submitted in court filings.
A “lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose,” according to ICE official Robert Cerna. “It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile,” he wrote.
How’s that for twisted?! “We can’t prove anything about what they’ve done, but that just means we haven’t found it yet.” That sounds remarkably like guilty until proven otherwise…which, to review, the proving otherwise part will never happen since the administration ignored a judge’s order not to deport these people and sent them to a black hole in a country 1200 miles from the closest point in the lower 48.
Innocent until proven guilty is one of the foundational tenets of the United States. Without it, a country is little more than than a totalitarian state. The administration is showing that it is willing to attack that idea. Starting with immigration issues is actually a smart strategy by the administration, as it is an area where it is easier to bend the rules—immigrants tend to be less able to advocate for themselves in the face of such issues. If the administration doesn’t try to open this crack in the country’s foundation further would be a genuine surprise.
Originally published here.
