ICE, ICE baby

I saw that headline and “deportations” seems weak. Normal deportations mean you’re sent back to your own country and you are a free person there, subject to the laws of that country.

Sending people to a third country and keeping them in prison there isn’t “deportation”. It is “imprisonment in a foreign country”. I know that’s long for a headline, but “deportation” just doesn’t do it.

That said, I hope the SC also ruled that they can’t us the Alien Enemies Act without any due process, even for ordinary deportations.

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The legal term is “rendition”. The public was made more aware of the word due to some of the tactics used in Bush Jr.'s war on terror.

However, the Supreme Court’s emergency stay was to block Venezuelans being deported under the Alien Enemies Act. I thought an agreement had been reached such that Venezuela would take those deportees (initially Venezuela wouldn’t, but CECOT…). I wasn’t aware that Venezuela was incarcerating its returned citizens.

Some legal perspective on the somewhat unusual intervention here by SCOTUS

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Alito and Thomas are the main problem now in the SC.

They have seriously skewed authoritarian tendencies.

They will rubber stamp just about anything.

Perhaps a glimmer of hope here is indicated in footnote 2:
“One fascinating question is whether Justice Alito, as Circuit Justice for the Fifth Circuit, had himself refused to issue some kind of administrative injunction—and his refusal impelled the full Court to act. We may never know, but it seems at least possible that part of what happened last night was a result of internal dynamics within the Court, as well.”

SCOTUS felt the need to intervene in the middle of the night before the Fifth Circuit had made a decision. This may have been done precisely because Alito is Circuit Justice there.

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Thanks for the link to that blog/newsletter.

From there is a recommended link to another, “Law Dork” which has the following comment about the unusual nature of the 1am SCOTUS order:

To be a fly on the SCOTUS wall / teleconference / Teams chat…

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Wait, surely they use Signal too?

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Buses with detainees were headed for the airport Friday. Meanwhile in court Ensign said he understood there would be no flights Friday night. The buses turned around.

Make sure you pre-book your hotel when you fly to the US. You might get strip searched and deported if you don’t. I’m sure this will help US tourism…

ETA: more of their story…
https://www.reddit.com/r/backpacking/comments/1k2obaf/comment/mnwd9o8/

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Border guys ignored Rubio?

United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has tried to ease concerns of European travelers wanting to visit the USA by saying, “If you’re not coming to the United States to join a Hamas protest, or to come here and tell us about how right Hamas is, or…stir up conflict on our campuses and create riots in our streets and vandalize our universities, then you have nothing to worry about.”

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I hope Canada has a more welcoming reputation and is not lumped in with the US on this stuff. My son hosts dozens of backpackers every year from Asia and Europe for short stays in his apartment. None of his couch surfers have run into problems at the Canadian border despite their youth and modest means.

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The people doing that sort of thing are pretty far down the chain from Trump and Homan. Makes me wonder what is suddenly different:

  1. Are the receiving this direction from the top? Do we have the memo with the orders?
  2. Are they on a power trip and feel enabled by by Trump to act on their own suspicions?
  3. Is there something else in the story that happened we aren’t being told?
  4. How much of this is the media finding a story to fit a narrative they want to sell?

And certainly it could all be true a presented. We need to be careful with disinformation though, or we risk making the same kind of mistake as the other side.

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I watch Border Security far too much…

My guess is that this is to some extent something that’s happened all along. Perhaps they’re being more aggressive with the sticking people in jail while awaiting their flight? I’m wondering if they have been asked to watch more closely for people who might work without a work permit?

Two teenagers traveling on their own and spending a couple of weeks in Hawaii, which is somewhat expensive are going to need money for food and shelter. I’d be curious about how much money they were able to show as having access to upon their arrival. They said they were doing freelance work out of Germany. I wonder if they ran into issues where U.S. law hasn’t kept up with the digital nomad lifestyle e.g. are you breaking the law vacationing in the U.S. while taking on jobs in Germany?

ETA: I wonder if part of the reason the US gets such an international black eye for their treatment of tourists is the appalling conditions of their jails. Why are they intentionally serving prisoners expired food? Why aren’t prisoners provided reasonable sleeping conditions and facilities?

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The Alito dissent from the middle-of-the-night shadow docket order is out:

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In a couple of posts above, I’ve observed that it’s difficult to objectively tell whether recent reports of tourists being turned away, or citizens being held because they decline to unlock their gadgets, or… are normal operations of CBP that have been amplified in social media and the press because of the ICE witch-hunt, or something more.

I think I’m coming down on the side that CBP has increased the frequency with which it wields such authority.

I have a hypothesis that it’s a combination of powers-that-be being under pressure to show that “stuff” is being done, as well as dicks within the organization feeling empowered by the current political climate to be dicks…but that is just a hypothesis, and one that is impossible to objectively test unless there were a leak of internal communications.

I just sent a note to my company’s cybersecurity response team asking, “on my way back from my upcoming business trip, how do you want me to respond if CBP asks that I unlock my company laptop?”

My employer gives me a burner laptop when travelling internationally…

It’s kind of interesting that I haven’t already heard back on my inquiry. (Today is not a company holiday in the US).