Homan insisted that the #Trump admin doesn’t “deport US #citizen #children,” emphasizing instead that the mothers may have wanted to take the children w/them when facing #deportation. If someone chooses to come to the US without the proper documentation & have a child, Homan said, “that’s on you, that’s not on this administration.” Having a child in the United States “is not a get-out-of-jail-free card,” he added.

#law #immigration #Rendition #Constitution #DueProcess #CivilRights #Judiciary

Speaking to CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Homan said Sunday that he’s not aware of any specifics in the case of the 4-yr-old citizen w/ #cancer, but he dismissed the use of the word “deported” to describe the removal of the American children from the country.

“No #UScitizen child was deported,” Homan said. “Deported means ordered by an immigration judge.”

Lawyers representing the father of the 2-yr-old #UScitizen who was deported, identified as V.M.L. in court documents, filed an emergency petition in the Western District of Louisiana on Thurs seeking her release. The child was put on a plane to #Honduras the next morning before the court opened.

The #US govt has never released data on how many US #citizens have been wrongfully detained or deported by #ICE. But independent investigations have revealed that ICE has arrested, detained, deported & issued detainers—requests to local jails to hold a person in custody—for thousands of citizens since the agency’s creation in 2003.

“I don’t know how much more of a blatant or clear constitutional violation there can be than deporting #US #citizens without #DueProcess,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the #ACLU of Louisiana. “Especially with some of those citizens being the most vulnerable of all vulnerable, #children, & not just any children, children with #medical conditions that are dire.”

All this comes amid what #Trump's critics see as signs of democratic backsliding at home that have raised concerns abroad. These include verbal attacks [& more] on #judges, a pressure campaign against #universities & the transfer of migrants to a notorious #ElSalvador prison as part of a broader #deportation drive.

#Trump's second-term "America First" agenda has alienated friends & emboldened adversaries while raising questions about how far he is prepared to go. His actions, coupled with that #uncertainty, have so unnerved some governments that they are responding in ways that could be difficult to undo, even if a more traditional US president is elected in 2028.

#Trump has launched an unprecedented #global #tariff war & slashed #US foreign #aid. He has disparaged #NATO #allies & embraced #Russia's narrative about its invasion of #Ukraine. And he has spoken about annexing #Greenland, retaking the #PanamaCanal & making #Canada the 51st state.

[and that’s before we talk about his domestic policies]

The judge expressed concern that a plane carrying the mother & her daughters was by then already “above the Gulf of America.” His suspicions were confirmed, he wrote, when a lawyer for the #Trump #DOJ told him at 1:06PM that day that Ms. Lopez Villela & presumably her #children “had just been released in Honduras.”

"Some of the most consequential reporting in US history—from Watergate to warrantless wiretapping after 9/11—was & continues to be made possible because #reporters have been able to protect the identities of confidential #sources & uncover & report stories that matter to people across the political spectrum," said Bruce Brown, Reporters Cmte president, an advocacy group for #journalists, in a stmnt.

The directive reverses a policy the #DOJ implemented during #Democratic President Joe Biden's admin. That barred prosecutors from seizing #reporters’ phone & email records in most circumstances.

The #Biden admin’s policy followed criticism of the DOJ for secretly subpoenaing records on reporters & congressional staff members as prosecutors pursued leaks of *national security* info during #Trump’s first term.

New #regulations detailed in the memo will allow prosecutors in #criminal investigations to use #subpoenas, #CourtOrders & #SearchWarrants to compel "production of information & testimony by & relating to members of the #news #media," the memo stated.
“Safeguarding classified, privileged & other sensitive information is essential to effective governance & #law enforcement,” #Trump AG #PamBondi wrote in the memo.
#Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #journalism #Autocracy #tyranny