What's So Funny?
A friend, who requests anonymity, wrote the following as an open letter to GOP Congressional Representatives and Senators regarding Trump's meeting with El Salvador's Bukele, and Trump's gleeful approach to deporting and imprisoning people without due process.
—Denis Kaufman
What, from your perspective, was the most chilling part of Trump’s meeting with El Salvador’s President Bukele? I’m asking because your silence is deafening.
- Was it watching Trump’s loyalists mock our courts, pretending they’re helpless to demand the return of a young Maryland father granted legal protection in the US, who was arrested in error & illegally sent to CECOT, Bukele’s brutal terrorist prison – in violation of his 5th Amendment right to due process? I DON’T BELIEVE FOR A SECOND THAT THE GUY WHO THREATENS TO WITHHOLD FUNDS FROM US CITIES, COMPANIES, & UNIVERSITIES THAT DON’T BEND THE KNEE IS SUDDENLY SHY.
- Was it hearing Trump admit that he’s “all for” sending US citizens to CECOT? AS YOU WELL KNOW, THIS IS A VIOLATION OF THE 8TH AMENDMENT PROTECTION FROM CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT.
- Or was it the LAUGHTER heard in the room on the hot mic when Trump told Bukele, “The homegrowns are next…You’ve gotta build about five more places.” THERE’S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTIONAL & HUMAN RIGHTS OF US CITIZENS.
Frankly, given Justice Sotomayor’s revelation last week about the very real possibility of US CITIZENS BEING TAKEN OFF THE STREETS, FORCED ONTO PLANES, & CONFINED TO FOREIGN PRISONS, I take no comfort in Trump’s claims that only “horrible criminals” would be sent to CECOT. He refers to members of the media as “the enemy from within,” his opponents as “vermin,” & his critics as “horrible people.” All this, coupled with his current aggressive revenge & retribution efforts, it’s not a stretch to imagine Trump extending “horrible” to include his critics, political activists, etc.
Finally, if you think Trump’s desire to use foreign prisons is just bluster, think again. POLITICO reports that US defense contractors have ALREADY DEVELOPED A PLAN to designate part of CECOT as US territory, “arguing that ‘transferring a prisoner to such a facility would not be an Extradition nor a Deportation’…Once the land is owned by the US, the proposal says it will be leased back to El Salvador to run the prison complex & urges the Homeland Security secretary to ‘SUSPEND THE ICE DETENTION STANDARDS’ to avoid questions about detention standards established by ICE & the Bureau of Prisons.”
DO YOUR JOB. Congress controls the “power of the purse,” NOT TRUMP. Stand together & reject any requests to fund prisons abroad. Protect 1st, 5th, & 8th Amendment rights.