The Curious Case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s deportation and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s bizarre photo from CECOT (Terrorism Confinement Center) in El Salvador

A call for Mr. Jefferson's "little rebellion"

On my mind: In 2008, the DoD objected to a FOIA request by the ACLU for the release of photographs of prisoners at Abu Ghraib US Military Prison, claiming the Geneva Conventions prohibited the release of such pictures publicly. DoD attorneys argued that “The Department of Defense interprets the Third Geneva Convention to protect POWs from being filmed or photographed in such a manner that viewers would be able to recognize the prisoner.” {ACLU v DoD, US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 09222008}. Claiming authority to do this under the Alien Enemies Act and the Sedition Act, both of 1798 (acts giving the President broad leeway in wartime to remove enemy combatants from the US), DJT et al. are using Gestapo tactics to remove persons living in the US who possess, by constitutional and SCOTUS affirmations, full access to due process rights and protections. The Sedition Act of 1798, which expired in 1800, criminalized false and malicious statements about the federal government. DJT et al. are alluding to this law as a cause for deportation and using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in a broad and sweeping way to claim both “wartime” authority and the authority to ignore the Judiciary Branch’s request for information necessary for due process consideration under the 5^th and 14^th amendments. If DJT et al. are exercising their authority to undertake this deportation under the pretense of war, not only are they in violation of constitutional due process requirements for all persons in the US, but Secretary Kristi Noem and her photographs at CECOT (the terrorist confinement prison in El Salvador) are in breach of both DoD policy and the Geneva Conventions. She is standing before clearly identifiable “enemy combatants” (by DJT standards). By this action, she should be investigated for war crimes. Unless, of course, the DJT Administration doesn’t mean “war” when it claims powers granted only in a time of war, in which case, the whole bunch of them are potentially guilty of violating the civil rights of every person so far deported from the US. Which brings us to Mr. Garcia…

In a court filing on 03312025, the DJT administration conceded it mistakenly deported Mr. Garcia to CECOT “because of an administrative error.” Despite a federal immigration judge granting Mr. Garcia protected status, a matter known to the DJT administration before Mr. Garcia’s actual deportation, DJT et al. still deported him to CECOT. DJT et al., though admitting the error, now say they cannot retrieve Mr. Garcia or any of those illegally deported (i.e., all of them, see 5^th and 14^th Amendments and settled SCOTUS decisions) because they are now in the custody of El Salvador. Under these circumstances, we might expect an immediate outcry from Congress and congressional hearings—don’t hold your breath; a public statement by Attorney General Bondi announcing an immediate FBI investigation and a promise to prosecute those responsible—yeah, that will happen; an announcement by Secretary of State Rubio declaring immediate negotiations with El Salvador to return the prisoners to the US—LOL; and a statement by the President deploring the overzealous implementation of his deportation plans—I don’t think so. Alas, they are all a part of the conspiracy to overthrow our constitutional Republic by incrementally destroying the foundations of the rule of law and constitutional rights and protections. Paradoxically, even if any federal prosecutions were to proceed in these deportation actions with resulting convictions, DJT would exercise his pardoning power. Even if investigated himself for criminal culpability in this matter, DJT would refer to the 2024 SCOTUS decision granting him nearly universal immunity (“I was just doing my presidential stuff.”) and offer the nation his classic smirk. Of course, late on 04012025, DJT alleged Mr. Garcia, despite his protected status, is a member of an El Salvadoran gang (an allegation tested in federal court and found wanting in evidence) and deserves to be deported.

Alas, my fellow citizens, our once glorious and honorable Republic is now being assaulted publicly and forcefully by an authoritarian regime, managed by oligarchs, guided by the Heritage Foundation Project 2025, and tilting rapidly toward fascism. DJT et al. are unconcerned with laws or liberty and are certainly unconcerned about the MAGA base that elevated him and his cabal to power—priced eggs lately. The federal courts may resist, but we are tottering on the edge of the abyss, and a final plunge is threatening.

But perhaps we are not without a path of resistance. In a letter to James Madison in 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing and is as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” In another letter later that year, he elaborated on his “little rebellion” idea, expressing his concern that people unresponsive to a political expansion of power in the US would demonstrate “a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. . . And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?” Perhaps now is such a time for the exercise of Jefferson’s idea of a bit of rebellion.