…Most of the #intelligence community, including the #CIA & the #NSA, agreed w/that assessment.

Only one agency, the #FBI [#KashPatel], partly dissented. It maintained the gang has a connection to the admin of #Venezuela’s #authoritarian president, Nicolás #Maduro, based on information the other agencies did not find credible.

The disclosure calls into question the credibility of #Trump’s basis for invoking a rarely used wartime #law, the #AlienEnemiesAct of 1798, to transfer a group of #Venezuelans to a high-security prison in #ElSalvador last weekend, with no #DueProcess.

The #intelligence community assessment concluded that the gang, #TrenDeAragua, was not directed by #Venezuela’s govt or committing crimes in the #US on its orders….

#RachelMaddow just interviewed Lindsay Toczylowski, #immigration atty for one of the *deported* individuals being held at #CECOT in #ElSalvador.
He was deemed a member of the gang #TdA because he has tattoos & is Venezuelan.
Her client is a #gay make-up artist who was seeking #asylum in the #US. Toczylowski shared some personal photos of her client.

I posted an interview by Sam Stein w/Toczylowski earlier this wk.
#law #Constitution #AlienEnemiesAct #DueProcess #CivilRights #AbuseOfPower #Trump

In response to #BadarSuri's Petition for Writ of #HabeasCorpus, Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles says the detained #Georgetown researcher cannot be deported *for now*
The arrest of #BadarSuri, #Trump’s #DHS claimed Suri was spreading“Hamas propaganda,”arrested & sent him to a Louisiana detention center. Suri is a LEGAL resident of Virginia married to a full US citizen of Palestinian heritage.

“He then stated, 'I understand that Cabinet Secretaries are currently actively considering whether to invoke the #StateSecrets privilege over the other facts requested by the Court's order. Doing so is a serious matter that requires careful consideration of national security & foreign relations, & it cannot properly be undertaken in just 24 hours.'

“This is woefully insufficient.”

[a seriously scripted declaration]

“Although skeptical of the applicability of such privilege, the Court granted Defendants another 24hrs either to release the information ordered or to invoke the privilege.…

“In an ex parte pleading delivered shortly after today's deadline, the Govt again evaded its obligations.

3. By March 25, 2025, Defendants shall file a brief showing cause why they did not violate the Court's Temporary Restraining Orders by failing to return class members removed from the United States on the two earliest planes that departed on March 15, 2025; &

4. Plaintiffs may file any response to such brief by March 31, 2025.

#Trump lawyers have *determined* [made up from whole cloth] that an 18th-cent wartime #law Trump invoked to deport *suspected* [presumed] members of a Venezuelan gang allows federal agents to enter homes WITHOUT A WARRANT….

The disclosure reflects the Trump admin’s aggressive view of #PresidentialPower, including setting aside a key provision of the #FourthAmendment that requires a #CourtOrder to search someone’s home.

Holy freaking crap

The #Trump admin says that the #AlienEnemiesAct allows #Immigration Agents to enter the homes of ANY PERSON who they *believe* are subject to the declaration WITHOUT A WARRANT.

#GiftArticle

#law #Constitution #FourthAmendment #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #CoEqualBranchesOfGovernment #ConstitutionalCrisis #AbuseOfPower
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/trump-alien-enemies-immigration-agents.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5U4.39cB.wD5EgfXixxmS&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p

It appears that #Trump’s #DOJ has *missed* (refused to comply with) the deadline set by Judge #Boasberg to provide answers on the #AliensEnemiesAct #deportations.

“The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.

Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.”
#ice #immigration