Case Invaders

“A federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelans it alleges are members of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua … Rodriguez wrote in his 36-page opinion that the Trump administration’s use of ‘invasion’ does not match the historical use of the term, which has typically been used in connection with military endeavors or warfare.” (At this point, there’s less confusion about what courts will decide on these matters than there is about whether those decisions will be followed by the administration.)

+ “Carlos Uzcategui is one of more than 250 Venezuelan men the U.S. has sent to El Salvador to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or Cecot. The U.S. contends that the men are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. In this video, The Wall Street Journal investigated Uzcategui’s story, and found no criminal record or ties to any gang. Our review found no evidence to suggest he should be held in a foreign prison with no indication that he will ever be released.” WSJ (Gift Article): He’s Held in El Salvador’s Mega-Prison, Without Any Criminal Charges.

+ As I mentioned yesterday: “After 100 days of jackhammering America’s norms, values, laws, finances, allies, and what’s left of the psyche of the average news curator, it’s hard to narrow things down to Trump’s worst affront so far. But there is one transgression that seems to best encapsulate where we’ve been dragged: The sending of potentially innocent Venezuelans to a gulag-like prison in El Salvador.” In Abroad Daylight.