Family members of Venezuelan migrants who suspect their loved ones were sent to El Salvador as part of a rapid US #deportation operation over the weekend are struggling to get more info as a legal battle plays out.

Advocates have launched a WhatsApp helpline for people searching for family members, while #immigration attorneys have tried to locate their clients after they went dark.

#law #Constitution #DueProcess #CivilRights #USpol #Trump #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/relatives-missing-venezuelan-migrants-desperate-answers-after-us-deportations-el-2025-03-17/

Development on this report:

... “The US Institute for #Peace [#USIP] called the DC police on the #Musk team members [#DOGE] in an effort to stop them from trespassing because the institute has control of its own building & the land it sits on. But instead, the DC police allowed them to enter & kicked out the institute's officials.”

#law #democracy #USpol #Trump #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #tyranny
https://apnews.com/article/doge-trump-us-institute-of-peace-03362c3440884c6b29e28ad0d88f5014

And now the admin may have taken its biggest step yet toward outright #defiance—though, as is typical of #Trump presidency, it has done…[it]…so haphazard & confused that it’s difficult to untangle what actually happened. But…[it]…is very clear: Trump’s most dangerous tendencies—hatred of immigrants; disdain for the legal process; willingness to push the boundaries of executive authority; &…appetite for going to war w/the courts—are magnifying one another in a uniquely risky way.

“This is, as far as I know, the first allegation that someone in a ban state is providing an abortion in direct violation of abortion laws,” said Marc Hearron of the Center for #ReproductiveRights.

In a handful of cases, charges have been brought against people who provided #abortion pills to relatives, either with their knowledge or without.

…The bans on abortions around the country have largely relied on the threat of prosecution, w/few instances in which #criminal cases have actually been filed. #Abortion providers in #Texas & other states w/ abortion bans ceased operations after the decision. #Women seeking abortions have instead had to travel to states where the procedure remains legal or have received abortion medication through the mail.

The stmnt said that she had been “charged with the illegal performance of an abortion,” which has been a second-degree #felony since the state’s near-total #AbortionBan took effect in 2022. She was also charged w/practicing #medicine without a license.

Court records released late Monday indicated that a person who worked w/Ms. Rojas, Jose Ley, 29, was also arrested & charged w/the same offenses.

#KenPaxton, the #Texas AG, said in a statement that the #midwife, Maria Margarita Rojas, operated clinics in several towns around Houston, including 2 in Harris County, the state’s most populous county, & one in Waller County, a more rural & conservative jurisdiction where the charges were brought.

#Boasberg did in fact mention #contempt as an aside earlier that I didn’t include.

Here’s the exact quote:

“Two more questions for Mr. Kambli (for the US govt) that don't relate to CONTEMPT / disobeying court orders. 1) Was Trump's Tren de Aragua proclamation signed in secret on Friday? Or on Saturday? Need to know timing & when US thinks it went into effect.”

#law #Constitution #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct #Trump

With that, the hearing is over. The govt will file more information tomorrow, & it may again refuse to provide specific the information #Boasberg requested (but must explain why). There is a further hearing on the #TRO on Fri, & action in the DC Circuit Court where briefing ends Wed.

#law #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #immigration #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct #Trump

#Boasberg with a sarcastic aside: "What I will hear from you by noon tomorrow — & I will memorialize in written form since apparently my oral orders don't carry much weight — is a written declaration" about the third flight & also the information he's previously ordered them to provide.

#law #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #immigration #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct #Trump

Lee then says they're going to argue that the government should be required to give anyone subject to the #AEA a hearing before finding that they're covered, & they'll be seeking that later.

#Boasberg orders #DOJ to say how many people are designated under AEA. DOJ says again they may refuse.

#law #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #immigration #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct #Trump

#Boasberg then asks how many people are subject to the proclamation & how many people are currently in #ICE custody.

#DOJ says they don't have it. #ACLU also says they don't have it, & points out that the proclamation is vague enough that it's hard for anyone to figure out who is subject.

#law #Constitution #14thAmendment #5thAmendment #DueProcess #immigration #Venezuela #CivilRights #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #AlienEnemiesAct #Trump

#Boasberg then asks the government about another issue; when was the Proclamation actually signed?

The #DOJ atty says that he does not have any information right now as to when the proclamation was signed, & Boasberg asks him to submit that information as well by noon tomorrow, & for the DOJ to provide an argument for when the proclamation went into effect.

#law #Constitution #ChecksAndBalances #JudicialBranch #Judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #AbuseOfPower #Trump #AlienEnemiesAct