OPINION: As alleged criminals, we are now all equal

Trump’s royal advisers excavated a barbarous 18th century “Aliens Enemies Act” (used to imprison Japanese-Americans during WWII) as legal grounds to deport 250 Venezuelan immigrants. This action itself should not shock – he promised as much in his campaign: that upon taking the presidency he would dictate two things: ridding the country of illegal immigrants and energy independence through a “drill baby drill” policy. The shock waves are not in the what, but in the how.

How? If we connect the dots and follow the sequence of events that led to these immigrants being loaded onto planes headed for a jail in El Salvador post-haste, there is a pause, a gasp. These were people “alleged” to have gang affiliation, neither formally charged nor convicted. Following the how, we observe a nation in slow motion falling to pieces.

If the constitutional system of checks and balances is a dam holding back such events, it has been breached. My own anguish is on display as I reach out to the likes of Dick Cheney for a quote: "In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”

In connecting the dots, the threats take form. Am I an “alleged” criminal? Are you? Sahar Aziz, Rutgers law professor, provides a sobering reminder that "Americans should view how they are treated as an indicator of what’s in store for anyone who has views that dissent from the government."

As was expected, a judge, in this case James E. Boasberg, did block the deportation. But the plane and its precious cargo had already taken off, and the judge’s verbal demand that the plane turn around was mockingly brushed off. If this episode is an isolated abuse of executive power, as has become customary in the Oval Office – think Iran Contra Affair – we could stomach the breach of power and limp along with confidence that our individual civil liberties still stand strong. No longer.

It would not be fair or perceptive to stop there and say that our civil rights are now subject to the mood swings of an insecure tyrant. No, we must trace back the breadcrumbs and reflect on the figure who is as calculating as he is vengeful. King Donald learned well in his schooling from 2016-20. He learned not to be content with populist adulation; nothing gets done. Project 2025 is a testament to that education. (A door-stop at 887 pages and exceeds the tome "Mein Kampf" by 167 pages). That he managed to get 250 deportees in the air before a judge’s ruling was no serendipitous accident.

The mission was carried out with menacing precision, reminiscent of the Gestapo. Again, it is in the how. As with his private business affairs, Trump reluctantly yielded to the need for a platoon of highly skilled attorneys to clear a path for his boots on the ground. For the time being there are those pesky legal justifications like the Aliens Enemies Act and those bothersome judicial search warrants. How inefficient and time-consuming! (Much to his envy, Hitler was able to dispense with this legal nonsense by 1934, requiring all judges to swear an oath of loyalty to him).

There is a thread. We are led to the doorsteps of Mahmoud Khalil, a college student and Palestinian activist, arrested on March 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and now held in a federal detention center in Louisiana. His crime? He publicly protested against Israel and is seemingly aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. Not a crime by the way. The actual crime requires that Mahmoud provide “material support” for Hamas, but a blurred reading of the law will suffice until King Donald can coerce the judicial branch to bend a collective knee. And never mind that Mahmoud, a green card holder, is a lawful permanent U.S. resident. For now, a judge has blocked Mahmoud’s deportation, yet Trump’s legal jesters will conjure up a 1952 immigration law claiming he can be deported because his protests contain “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”

Do not take your eye off Trump’s trail of breadcrumbs and prophecies; this will be the “first arrest of many to come.” When he says that he will “clean out that whole thing,” you think he is only talking about Gaza?

After years of globetrotting, Todd J. Broadman finds himself writing from his perch on the Palouse and loving the view. His policy briefs can be found at US Resist News: https://www.usresistnews.org.