Advocates for immigrants raised alarms Sat amid reports that the #Trump admin, after signing the proclamation w/o publicizing it, had arranged to spirit immigrants onto airplanes & out of the country, in particular to El Salvador, where Trump agreed last month to house immigrants & US #citizens who had been convicted of crimes.
The ACLU says the men do not have any ties to the criminal group.
Judge Boasberg said the immigrants clearly face irreparable harm, “given that these folks will be deported & many or the vast majority to prisons in other countries or sent back to #Venezuela, where they face persecution, or worse.”
“This is something that you need to make sure is complied with immediately,” he told the #DOJ.
US District Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge in DC, quickly blocked ofcls from deporting Venezuelans under the proclamation after #CivilRights groups filed a challenge earlier Sat. As he issued his ruling, the judge said he heard that “flights are actively departing” & ordered the #Trump admin to immediately halt the removals & return to the #UnitedStates any flights that are in the air.
Judge blocks #Trump after he invokes wartime #AlienEnemiesAct to speed up #deportations
A federal judge ordered the administration to turn around any planes that had already taken off after the act quietly went into effect.
#law #immigration #Venezuela #DueProcess #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #geopolitics #USpol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/03/15/trump-alien-enemies-venezuela-migrants-deportations/
In invoking the #law, #Trump claimed the #US was facing an "invasion" from a criminal organization that has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organized crime & contract killings.
Furthermore, Trump claimed members of the gang were "conducting irregular warfare & undertaking hostile actions against the #UnitedStates" with the goal of destabilizing the country.
#Trump has issued an #ExecutiveOrder invoking the #AlienEnemiesAct of 1798, an obscure 227 year old #law that allows the removal of unauthorized immigrants with little #DueProcess. Trump’s order says that Venezuelans who are 14 years & older, in the United States without authorization & part of the Tren de Aragua gang [or that the admin says are part of the gang] are “liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured & removed.”
#immigration #Venezuela #geopolitics #USpol
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-judge-blocks-some-deportations-after-lawsuit-cites-fears-wartime-law-2025-03-15/
Stop him.
Trump signs order to dismantle seven federal agencies focused on media, libraries, homelessness
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5196704-trump-executive-order-federal-agencies-eliminate/
@martingb @MugsysRapSheet @syntaxseed Yes, his #literacy has diminished in importance relative to his #cognitiveDissonance , #cognitiveDecline and #irrationality.
'Do you have communist links?' US sends 36 questions to UN aid groups
> United Nations aid agencies have been sent questionnaires by the US asking them to state if they have "anti-American" beliefs or affiliations.
> Among the 36 questions on the form, sent by the #US Office of Management and Budget (#OMB) and seen by the #BBC, is one asking if they have any links to #communism. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70enzddxywo #MAGA #USpol #UN
Please amplify the clear & present danger of authoritarianism from this admin. As Ruth Ben-Ghiat says, we must fight back against this authoritarian creep, Trump exhibits classic strongman tactics he’s already using to consolidate power.
From interview of Lee Bollinger, 1st Amendment scholar who served as dean of University of Michigan Law, president of the University of Michigan, & president of Columbia University:
#Authoritarianism #Trump #Constitution #Resist #USPol
https://www.chronicle.com/article/were-in-the-midst-of-an-authoritarian-takeover
Make a FOIA Request & Learn What DOGE Knows About You!
U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him this week in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has issued an injunction commanding DOGE to comply with citizen requests under the Freedom of Information Act. This law encompasses the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which entitles any citizen to access personal information held in any U.S. government records system.
The link has more info about this, and form FOIA form to fill out.
Fetterman Empty Chair Town Hall!
He's not planning to show up in Pittsburgh, except to sell books for McCormick, so let's get together to send him a message.
Friday, March 21st from 7:00 - 8:30pm
Every part of this Echo privacy massacre is downstream of [the US's pro-monopoly "Consumer Welfare"] policy choice: "growth stock" narratives about AI, twiddling, DMCA 1201, the Darth Vader MBA, the end of legal privacy protections. These are material things, not ideological ones. They exist to make a very, very small number of people very, very rich..." - @pluralistic
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114166991733057284 #tech #business #SurveillanceCapitalism #uspol
Some #Republicans have accused #VOA & other publicly-funded #media outlets of being biased against *conservatives* [liars, criminals & extremists]. Last month, billionaire #ElonMusk, who is spearheading #Trump's government *downsizing* [destruction] effort, called for VOA & #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty to be shut down in a post to social media.
The Paris-based #ReportersWithoutBorders also blasted the move, w/its director general, Thibaut Bruttin, saying that it "threatens press freedom worldwide & negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of #information."
The president of the #NationalPressClub in Washington, Mike Balsamo, released a statement on social media objecting to the moves at #VOA.
"For decades, #VoiceOfAmerica has delivered fact-based, independent #journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist," Balsamo said.
The decision, he said, "undermines America's commitment to a free & independent press."
The move follows #Trump signing an #ExecutiveOrder on Friday instructing #USAGM & six other little-known agencies to reduce their operations to the bare minimum mandated by the law, saying it was necessary to *shrink bureaucracy* [stop informing the public].
Trump, who clashed w/the #VoiceOfAmerica during his 1st term, picked fmr news anchor #KariLake to be its director for his 2nd term. Lake, a staunch Trump ally, has often accused *mainstream* #media of harboring anti-Trump bias.
On its website, #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty notes that it has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian govt & warns readers in #Russia & Russia-occupied #Ukraine that they could "face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us."
The #USAGM also terminated funding for #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty, which broadcasts to countries in #EasternEurope, including #Russia & #Ukraine, as well as for #RadioFreeAsia, which broadcasts to #China & #NorthKorea, acc/to letters seen by Reuters.
Multiple workers at #VoiceOfAmerica, an international #media broadcaster that operates in >40 languages, shared w/Reuters an email that placed them on administrative leave w/full pay & benefits "until otherwise notified."
The emails, sent by a HR executive at the #US Agency for Global Media, the #VOA's parent agency, instructed them not to enter their work premises or access internal systems.
