A thin line between trolling and state terror
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Thinking of taking a family trip outside the U.S.? It’s not your reception as an American at a foreign resort you have to worry about. It’s close encounters of the Trump kind when you return (Detroit Free Press):
A lawyer’s spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says.
But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn’t give up his phone.
“I’m an American citizen. I’m not worried about being deported,” Makled said he recalled thinking to himself in the airport interrogation room. “So, I tell them, ‘I know you can take my phone. I’m not going to give you my phone, however … 90% of my work is on my phone. You’re not getting unfettered access to (it).’ “
Makled, 38, is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney who knows his rights backwards and forwards and who had his passport flagged. He was interrogated by the Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT), a secretive unit of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that has detained and questioned tens of thousands of U.S. citizens at ports of entry for several years.
“These secretive teams’ activities may result in further government scrutiny and other negative consequences for targeted travelers, including placement on a government watchlist,” the ACLU warns.
Makled told his story to Chris Hayes Tuesday night.
Free Press again:
“This current administration is doing something that no administration has done — they are attacking attorneys,” Makled said, stressing lawyers from big and small firms alike are being targeted. “This is a different type of threat to the rule of law that I see. They are now challenging the judiciary, or lawyers, they’re putting pressure (on them) to dissuade attorneys from taking on issues that are against the government’s issues. We have an obligation as lawyers to stand up to this stuff.”
After 90 minutes, CBP let Makled, a lawyer, go with his cell phone. How would you have fared? Because until this administration ends, the harassment won’t end with lawyers.
The Intercept reported in 2021 on documents it reviewed from an ACLU FOIA lawsuit (emphasis mine):
Between 2017 and 2019, the documents show, the units detained and interrogated more than 600,000 travelers — about a third of them U.S. citizens. Of those detained, more than 8,000 foreign visitors with legal travel documents were denied entry to the United States. A handful of U.S. citizens were also prevented from entering the country, which civil liberties advocates say violated their rights. Lower court and Supreme Court rulings affirm the constitutional right of U.S. citizens to freedom of movement and the ability to enter and leave the country.
That was then, under Trump 1.0. This is now. We’ve seen already that Trump 2.0 treats constitutional rights and court opinions as nuisances to be waved away. As far as Trump is concerned, and with the backing of over half the Supreme Court, he is the law.
From trolling to state terror
How soon before Trump protesters are designated heinous violent criminals?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the Trump administration is not sure it is legal to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador, but that President Donald Trump has “simply floated” the idea for the sake of transparency.
[…]
Leavitt said the president had discussed the idea both privately and publicly for “heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly.”
“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is, it’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed very publicly as in the effort of transparency,” she said.
It is no longer clear when Trump is merely trolling his adversaries for sport and when he is floating trial balloons to gauge potential pushback. Talk of deporting Americans to foreign gulags is not a case of “every accusation is a confession.” He’s telegraphing what he wants to do. It is unclear when he’ll decide to do it.
I’m reluctant to leave the country under one Trumpish policy only to return and find that it’s changed while I’m away. Trump is harassing U.S. allies. He’s targeting foreign students. He’s targeting lawyers. He’s branded the press as the enemy of the people. Invoking Martin Niemöller would seem trite if not for the deafening echoes.
Some light reading for you: What to do if the Insurrection Act is invoked.
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