Why doesn’t the successful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia without due process rise to this level for you? It’s true he wasn’t a US citizen, but he did have a protected status that let him live and work legally in the US. And given that he was deported without due process, but simply by “administrative error,” there was no point at which he was given the opportunity to bring up his legal status. That is, the thing that would be different if they tried to do this to a citizen is that they would have successfully done it to a citizen. Presumably the courts would order them to bring the citizen back, but they’ve already done that with Abrego Garcia, and the administration isn’t complying.
If that’s your bright line, maybe check out the boot that’s straddling it.
If a Democrat wins in 2028, we can hypothetically fix immigration policy, tariffs, and all the rest with enough popular support. In fact now that the far right has shown themselves to be a clown show, maybe that phase of America’s maturation may finally be ending. We might even bring Abrego Garcia himself back.
But if we deport citizens - who can vote and participate in democracy - that puts the thumb on the scale. It makes permanent fascism like in Russia more likely. And it’s worth dying to avoid that permanent fate. But if it’s temporary, it just doesn’t rise to that level.
Why doesn’t the successful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia without due process rise to this level for you? It’s true he wasn’t a US citizen, but he did have a protected status that let him live and work legally in the US. And given that he was deported without due process, but simply by “administrative error,” there was no point at which he was given the opportunity to bring up his legal status. That is, the thing that would be different if they tried to do this to a citizen is that they would have successfully done it to a citizen. Presumably the courts would order them to bring the citizen back, but they’ve already done that with Abrego Garcia, and the administration isn’t complying.
If that’s your bright line, maybe check out the boot that’s straddling it.
My main criteria is can we fix it.
If a Democrat wins in 2028, we can hypothetically fix immigration policy, tariffs, and all the rest with enough popular support. In fact now that the far right has shown themselves to be a clown show, maybe that phase of America’s maturation may finally be ending. We might even bring Abrego Garcia himself back.
But if we deport citizens - who can vote and participate in democracy - that puts the thumb on the scale. It makes permanent fascism like in Russia more likely. And it’s worth dying to avoid that permanent fate. But if it’s temporary, it just doesn’t rise to that level.