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by breadwinner 460 days ago
If you want to talk about slippery slopes the one that scares me most is deportation of what Trump calls "bad hombres" to prisons in El Salvador — without any due process. No matter how bad the "hombres", they must be given due process. Without that anyone that the president decides can be sent directly to prison.
2 comments

Shit even this is downplaying how bad that is, and what a bad sign it is. This isn't deportation the way I think most people understand it, they weren't sent back to their original country or a place that recognizes them as nationals. The united states is selling people into slavery to an allied state.
Pretty sure we're paying them, not the reverse, so we're just giving them slaves, and money.
I think simply considering it a pilot program resolves this apparent contradiction.

Another view is that one of the few idealogical commitments of this administration is global bullies doing favors for each other. It's not totally clear to me which direction the favor lies in this one, but I think both sides expect it to be returned at some point.

I think it's a combination of cruelty and drinking their own kool-aid to an extent. They like hurting these people, and some of them probably believe to some extent that all of these people really are dangerous gang members. I doubt they care very much about who pays whom.
Don't fight it ... it's going to be a handy precedent in 4 years time.
We don't need this vile tool, and it is extremely important that we not leave it functional for others to use, against us or against anyone.

Attacking the country to which you owe allegiance is a well-understood crime with normative punishments that we have used in living memory. We already have all the carceral tools we need to resolve this.

If this isn't fought, there will be no opponents left in the next election. See Turkey.
No. These people need to be put on trial, not given summary justice. We managed to hold trials for top-level Nazis, we can do it here.