Robert Reich: Trump’s legal setbacks for the past week

Long read but a good wrap-up for the week:

Today I’m feeling nauseously optimistic. (Nauseous optimism is when your heart aches and you’re sick to your stomach but believe you’ll live to see the dawn.)

Although every other constraint on Trump is gone — congressional Republicans are in the MAGA cult, Democrats are zombies, big business doesn’t dare oppose Trump, and high-tech has gone over to the dark side — one constraint remains: the federal courts.

And the federal courts seem to be holding firm, at least so far.

Consider what the courts did this week:

https://www.facebook.com/RBReich/posts/1189986192494826

Miami Herald: ‘Deport every person under the sun’: ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments

Anything to get the numbers up, so that Trump & cronies can claim to be doing something!

Federal authorities in South Florida have recently detained at least 18 Cubans during scheduled immigration appointments, local attorneys say, highlighting that a group that has historically enjoyed special immigration benefits is not immune to the Trump administration’s intensified mass deportation efforts.

Among the Cubans recently detained is Beatriz Monteagudo, 25, her friend Johan Ariel told the Miami Herald. The pair texted each other daily. But the last message he received from Monteagudo was March 10. The Cuban woman, who got an I-220A after entering the U.S. in January 2024, was heading to her required check-in appointment in Miramar.

Ariel quickly grew worried that he hadn’t heard from her following the appointment. When he searched the ICE detainee locator service online, her name showed up. Then came Monteagudo’s call.

When she called Ariel from the detention facility, she told him she was with about 18 others who had also been taken into custody after showing up for their routine appointments. Monteagudo told him she wasn’t told why they were there, aside from officers mentioning the laws had changed.

That’s a blatant lie. No laws changed. Trump and ICE are now retaliating again people who have properly complied with the process up to this point. Most of these Cubans crossed the border after they had arranged appointments to do so with immigration officials.

To date, neither Monteagudo nor Ariel have gotten answers, he says. And this week, Monteagudo, who was living in Miami, was transferred to a detention facility in San Diego.

Transferring detainees to remote prisons is a favorite ICE tactic to make it difficult / impossible for family members and attorneys to assist the detainees.

‘Deport every person under the sun’: ICE detains Cubans during immigration appointments

The Telegraph: Only Europe can stop the slide back to the rule of Trumpian tyrants

Good article except that the journalist appears not to understand the meaning of “sycophant”. Trump is a narcissist, not a sycophant. The sycophants are the suck-ups surrounding him and providing him with the adulation that he craves.

This North Korean level of idolatry for the magnificence of the presidential persona is not normal. It is, indeed, out of character with the spirit of the nation’s historical conception of itself as an egalitarian democracy in which anyone – the child of any family – may rise to the highest office in the land while still remaining, at heart, an ordinary American. Being elected president does not make you a god – or even the bearer of a sacred truth. 

According to the Constitution, it does not even give you the power to do what you like. You are simply the head of the Executive branch of the federal government whose intentions may (indeed, should) be held in check by Congress and the courts. 

I reiterate this point, which I realise that I have made before on these pages, because I still find myself endlessly shocked by the flouting of the basic assumptions of American nationhood which were once ingrained in the consciousness of every schoolchild …

Only Europe can stop the slide back to the rule of Trumpian tyrants

Members of British punk rock band UK Subs denied entry into the US

Trump critics denied entry:

Three members of the pioneering band were detained and returned to the UK after flying to Los Angeles for a gig.

Members of the punk rock band UK Subs have said they were denied entry and detained in the US, according to accounts from the band themselves.

Bassist Alvin Gibbs shared details of the incident in a Facebook post on Wednesday, which comes amid widespread reports of people being denied entry to the US, including a French scientist who said he was barred because of anti-Donald Trump comments he had made.

Gibbs, along with bandmates Marc Carrey and Stefan Häublein, were deported back to the UK following their detainment. Only vocalist Charlie Harper had been allowed entry. Harper ended up playing the band’s scheduled show in Los Angeles with a group of stand-in musicians.

He recounted how after he landed at the LA airport with his partner, he was told he would be questioned after being flagged. He was informed the flagging was for two reasons: first, he was told he had an incorrect visa, but he was also told that there was another reason that the agents would not disclose to him.

“I can’t help but wonder whether my frequent, and less than flattering, public comments regarding their president and his administration played a role – or perhaps I’m simply succumbing to paranoia,” he said.

The band, considered pioneers in the genre of British punk rock, have been outspokenly critical of Trump and his policies in the past. They are known to often make political statements during live performances.

Members of British punk rock band UK Subs denied entry into the US | US immigration | The Guardian

ABC News: Man deported under Alien Enemies Act because of soccer logo tattoo: Attorney

An attorney representing a migrant sent to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act says her client was deported due to a soccer logo tattoo, according to court declarations submitted Wednesday night.

Linette Tobin is representing Jerce Reyes Barrios, a professional soccer player from Venezuela who protested the Maduro regime in February and March 2024 and was detained and tortured after one of the demonstrations.

Man deported under Alien Enemies Act because of soccer logo tattoo: Attorney

Navaho code talkers, scrubbed from history by Trump, since restored

🤯They did restore… – Vietnam Veterans and Friends Against Trumpism | Facebook

Newsweek: Donald Trump Suggests US Could Join British Commonwealth

Will this happen before or after Trump invades England?

President Donald Trump suggested that the United States could join the British Commonwealth on Friday in a post to Truth Social, his social media platform.

The president shared an article from British tabloid The Sun reporting that King Charles III was making a “secret offer” to the White House, and that plans are in process for the U.S. to become an associate member of the international organization.

“I Love King Charles. Sounds good to me!” Trump wrote in response to the report.

Donald Trump Suggests US Could Join British Commonwealth

Bigoted Secretary of Defense erases memory of another distinguished black female soldier

Trump’s fascist Secretary of Defense & drunken wife beater has erased the memory of another distinguished service member, presumably because she was female & black.

This bigotry inevitably will affect their future recruiting efforts, as women and minorities see that glass ceiling descending around them.

https://www.facebook.com/margaret.downsgamble/posts/10238232186086146

Associated Press: US prepares to deport about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador

Due process? Why bother? El Salvador’s government knows how to lock people up without fair trials. Just leave it to them!

President Donald Trump’s administration will pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison for one year about 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, in one of the first instances of the Central American country taking migrants from the United States.

The agreement follows discussions between El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prison. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 as part of his crackdown on gang violence in the small country.

US prepares to send about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador | AP News

299 asylum seekers deported from the U.S. to Panama

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