Who did Trump actually deport to El Salvador?

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Welcome to The Logoff: Today my colleague Nicole Narea and I are focusing on the Trump administration’s admission that it wrongfully sent a migrant to a Salvadorian mega prison — a reminder of the danger of suspending due process.

What’s the latest? The administration admitted yesterday that it made an “administrative error” when it deported Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia — one of more than 100 people sent in March to a Salvadorian prison that is a “legal black hole” with documented human rights abuses. The administration says it’s unable to bring Garcia back from foreign soil, despite an immigration judge ruling in 2019 that Garcia could stay in the US pending further proceedings.

How did this happen? Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime powers law to deport Garcia and others who his administration accused of gang ties. A judge ordered Trump to halt those deportations mid-flight, but the administration did not. As a result, the migrants were denied due process — deported before their cases were legally resolved.

Is this an isolated incident? The Trump administration concluded some migrants were gang members based on criteria that included tattoos and clothing, the New York Times reported yesterday. Those criteria have resulted in multiple cases where non-gang members were quite possibly swept up.

What’s the big picture? It’s possible that, in time, some of these men will be proven criminals. Garcia, for example, has been accused — but not convicted — of ties to the gang MS-13. But that’s beside the point: In a functioning justice system, we use due process to first adjudicate guilt, and then levy punishment.

That’s partly why a federal judge ordered the deportation flights halted to begin with: to give the legal system time to figure out what rights these men did or didn’t have. The Trump administration, however, defied that order, and now it has imposed an extreme punishment it says it can’t take back — all while we’re still trying to figure out who these men are and what they did.

I am not, by any stretch, a knower of poetry, and so I’m lucky that, once long ago, I came across this poem: “The Summer Day.” I find it helpful on days like today, when it’s easy to feel exhausted or ungrateful. It’s a reminder to use our time well, particularly in a last line both haunts and inspires me: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a good night, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.