ANOTHER CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

Appeals court rejects Trump bid to lift order barring deportations

By AFP
March 26, 2025


This handout picture from El Salvador's presidency shows the arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua at a prison in Tecoluca - Copyright EL SALVADOR'S PRESIDENCY PRESS OFFICE/AFP Handout

Chris Lefkow

A US appeals court on Wednesday denied a bid by the Trump administration to lift a lower court order barring summary deportations of Venezuelan migrants using an obscure wartime law.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to temporarily keep in place the ban on deportations carried out under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act (ANA).

President Donald Trump sent two planeloads of alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a prison in El Salvador on March 15 after invoking the AEA, which has only been used previously during the War of 1812, World War I and World War II.

District Judge James Boasberg issued a restraining order that same day temporarily barring the administration from carrying out any further deportation flights under the AEA, which the Justice Department appealed to remove.

Attorneys for several of the deported Venezuelans have said that their clients were not members of Tren de Aragua, had committed no crimes and were targeted largely on the basis of their tattoos.

Judge Patricia Millett, an appointee of Democratic president Barack Obama, and Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of Republican president George H.W. Bush, voted to keep the temporary ban on deportations using the AEA in place.

The third judge on the panel, Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, dissented.

Millett said the Venezelan migrants had been deported based on the government’s allegations alone “with no notice, no hearing, no opportunity — zero process — to show that they are not members of the gang.”

“If the government can choose to abandon fair and equal process for some people, it can do the same for everyone,” she said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the prison in El Salvador on Wednesday where the Venezuelans are being held.

Before her arrival, Noem said on social media that she would be meeting Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to discuss how the United States “can increase the number of deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US.”



– ‘Nazis got better treatment’ –



During a hearing on Monday at which the government sought to have the court order lifted, Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said it “represents an unprecedented and enormous intrusion upon the powers of the executive branch” and “enjoins the president’s exercise of his war and foreign affairs powers.”

Millett for her part said “Nazis got better treatment” from the United States during World War II under the AEA.

Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit against the deportations along with other rights groups, welcomed the appeals court move.

“The decision means that hundreds of individuals remain protected from being sent to a notorious black-hole prison in a foreign country, without any due process whatsoever.”

Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, said “President Trump is bound by the laws of this nation, and those laws do not permit him to use wartime powers when the United States is not at war and has not been invaded.”

Boasberg, the district court judge, has said migrants subject to potential deportation under the AEA should be “entitled to individualized hearings to determine whether the Act applies to them at all.”

Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Boasberg, even going so far as to call for his impeachment, a remark that drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

The contentious case has raised concerns among legal experts that the administration may potentially ignore the court order, triggering a constitutional crisis.


At El Salvador mega-jail, Trump official tells migrants ‘do not come’


By AFP
March 26, 2025


US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of a maximum security prison in El Salvador - Copyright POOL/AFP Alex Brandon

US President Donald Trump’s homeland security chief on Wednesday visited the mega-prison in El Salvador where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants have been deported under contested legal grounds.

Standing in front of a cell of inmates who stripped to the waist to reveal their tattooed torsos, Kristi Noem recorded a message telling others that they risked the same consequences.

“Do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted,” she said at the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).

“Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.”

Trump invoked rarely used US wartime legislation in mid-March to bypass traditional deportation procedures and quickly flew 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador.

Washington accused them of all belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which it has designated a “terrorist” organization, but relatives and lawyers for several of the migrants say they have no connection to the group.

The deportations took place despite a US federal judge, on the same day, ordering a temporary halt.

The Trump administration subsequently appealed the halt, but a three-judge panel ruled on Wednesday that it can remain in effect.

On Monday, a law firm hired by Caracas filed a habeas corpus petition, demanding justification be provided for the migrants’ continued detention.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the motion seeks the release of countrymen he described as having been kidnapped.

According to the White House, Washington paid the Bukele administration around $6 million for the detention of the deportees.

Noem, on the first stop of a regional tour that will also include Colombia and Mexico, was also due to meet Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

She said earlier that she would discuss how the United States “can increase the number of deportation flights and removals of violent criminals from the US.”



– ‘Dangerous step’ –



Rights group Amnesty International said the mass expulsion “represents not only a flagrant disregard of the United States’ human rights obligations, but also a dangerous step toward authoritarian practices.”

It said there was “a clear and troubling connection” between Bukele’s methods and the recent US actions, as “both rely on a lack of due process and the criminalization of individuals based on discriminatory criteria.”

Bukele is hailed at home for his crackdown on violent crime — with tens of thousands of suspected gangsters sent to CECOT.

Human rights groups have criticized the drive for a wide range of alleged abuses.

Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security Gustavo Villatoro accompanied Noem on the visit to CECOT, considered the largest prison in Latin America.

Guarded by soldiers and police, the jail has high electrified walls and a capacity for 40,000 inmates, who are denied family visits.

Human rights organizations have voiced concern that more innocent migrants risk being incarcerated.

“There is growing evidence that many people who were sent to El Salvador are not part of Tren de Aragua, and that they are exposed to serious human rights violations,” said Juan Pappier, deputy Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

“The main danger is that the US continues sending innocent people” to Salvadoran prisons, he told AFP.

Salvadoran authorities have arrested more than 86,000 suspected gang members under Bukele’s crackdown. Several thousand were released after being found innocent.

Collaborating with Trump “could be a risky move” for Bukele, despite the potential benefits, said Diego Chaves-Gonzalez, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in the United States.

“It could also generate tensions if a future US administration considers that these practices violate human rights or affect bilateral cooperation,” he told AFP.

Salvadoran analyst and academic Carlos Carcach said the cooperation would reinforce the Central American country’s “negative image” due to Bukele’s methods.

“What we are witnessing is the consolidation of an authoritarian regime in El Salvador with the support of the world’s greatest power,” he said.

'Some Truly Sick Sh*t': Kristi Noem Compared to the 'Gestapo' for Video Featuring Deportees in El Salvador

"If hell exists, Kristi Noem is a shoo-in," wrote one pastor.


U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center as prisoners stand, looking out from a cell, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025.
(Photo: Alex Brandon/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Eloise Goldsmith
Mar 27, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has sparked fierce criticism for a video she filmed on Wednesday while touring the megaprison in El Salvador that is currently holding immigrants who were deported by the Trump administration earlier in March.

The administration defied a court order when deporting over 200 Venezuelans, who the White House alleges are gang members.

In the video, Noem stands in front of a cell that holds male detainees, some of whom are only wearing pants, and warns people against coming to the United States illegally.

"This is some truly sick shit," wrote Fred Wellman, a political consultant and podcast host, on Wednesday. John Pavlovitz, an author and pastor, wrote "If hell exists, Kristi Noem is a shoo-in." Noem was also accused of making "content" out of the imprisoned men at the facility.



"If you ever wondered what the Gestapo would look like in 2025, wonder no longer," wrote the account Polling USA, which is run by Curtis Fric and posts publicly available data, in reference to the political police force of Nazi Germany.

Noem made the video while touring two cell blocks and other areas of the prison, perCNN. While the Trump administration maintains that the detainees who were deported have gang ties, court declarations from attorneys and family members of the migrants allege many of them are not affiliated with gangs.



"If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you can face," Noem said in the video. "First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted, but know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people."

When deporting the Venezuelans from the United States, the Trump administration invoked a rarely used statute that gives the president the ability to detain or deport noncitizens without first appearing before an immigration judge or federal court judge.

On Wednesday, an federal appeals court panel kept in place a lower court order temporarily barring the Trump administration from deporting more immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act.

'Oh my God': Kristi Noem dragged after 'desperate stunt' at notorious El Salvador prison

Daniel Hampton
March 26, 2025 

RAW STORY

 

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks as prisoners stand looking out from a cell, during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. Alex Brandon/Pool via REUTERS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem left social media critics aghast on Wednesday as she visited a maximum-security prison in El Salvador to deliver a message to criminal undocumented immigrants.

In a video posted to her X account, Noem said her team was visiting the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which she declared is accepting the United States' terrorists for the "violence that they've perpetuated in our communities."

"I also want everybody to know that if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences that you could face," she said. "First of all, do not come to our country illegally. You will be removed and you will be prosecuted. But know that this facility is one of the tools in our tool kit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people."

The Trump administration deported migrants to the facility — defying a judge's order in doing so — that it accused of being affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. More than 260 people, including 137 expelled under the Alien Enemies Act, were sent to El Salvador.

Noem toured the facility accompanied by the Salvadorian minister of justice. The prison can house up to 40,000 inmates and is notorious for its severe conditions, with prisoners crammed into cells with no access to the outdoors.

The video prompted immediate criticism on social media.

Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote on X: "Kristi Noem’s Desperate Stunt: Exploiting Foreign Prisoners for Political Fearmongering."

Tim Miller, MSNBC analyst and host of The Bulwark Podcast, remarked, "This is the sickest s--- i have ever seen in my life oh my god."


Jeff Timmer, senior advisor at the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, chided, "I wonder if they had to talk her out of shooting a puppy in the face to show the prisoners who’s boss, or if that’s yet to come in part 2?"

"Those are human f---ing beings behind you, not f---ing props!!!!!! That looks like a concentration camp. This is utterly reprehensible. Shame on you," rebuked the anti-MAGA account JoJoFromJerz.

Watch the clip below or at this link.