President Naive Buquere of El Salvador met with Donald Trump on Monday for a summit that will be etched in history as a significant day for its public. This event is remembered as the moment Trump announced a new phase in his assault on foundational legal principles in America.
“The criminals from my country will be next,” Trump proclaimed. He informed the gathered press. “I stated that homemade is indeed homemade. You need to construct five more facilities. I’d like them to be part of a select group and leave the nation.”
My fellow Americans, he is referring to us.
The notion that Trump will compel U.S. citizens to leave the country to bolster national megaprisons — specifically designed overseas to evade the American legal system — should send a jolt through the populace. After all, Trump’s interpretation of “crime” eligible for deportation includes individuals who may not have committed any offenses at all.
If Trump disregards a unanimous Supreme Court ruling and successfully strips legitimate process rights from legal non-citizens, there’s no barrier to prevent him from extending the same fate to Americans. Kilmer Abrego Garcia isn’t merely a bizarre legal anomaly. It serves as a dire warning that when the President forsakes the rule of law for certain individuals, he can just as easily contain the rule of law for all.
The latest government discussions reveal that detainees are existing in legal voids after being sent to El Salvador. Courts are unable to intercede; as stated by Trump himself. Their right to due process has now been dismissed as per Supreme Court documentation. The White House’s disregard for this is also a matter of public record. You may soon witness this stark scenario repeated. Next time, it’s possible that American citizens could be made to vanish.
In facilities that “operate beyond the judicial framework,” there’s a warning: “the detainee has not been formally charged or convicted of any crime through the judicial system.” According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, such locales are akin to concentration camps. On Monday, Trump committed to allocate taxpayer dollars to construct additional Salvadoran concentration camps, receiving enthusiastic support from Bukere.
Bukele’s extensive Cecot Mega-Prison has garnered horrific accounts of violence and torture. Many lawful immigrants, with no malfeasance, are now living in trepidation of being sent to El Salvador in body bags. This embodies the cultural intimidation Trump aspires to perpetuate.
If Trump’s vision is realized, American citizens could soon find themselves isolated from legal protections and confined in one of the most inhumane prisons globally.
We are confronting one of the most critical constitutional crises in U.S. history. As Jonathan reflects on Bluwork he makes a correct observation, the inaction of Congress and judicial processes would render “the de facto local policy of detainment in foreign gulags for the administration’s adversaries.” At that point, an American detainee’s citizenship merely becomes a trivial detail in the narrative of a prison-bound flight to El Salvador.
The media faces an inherent target. Trump already perceives any criticism of reporting as treason and has actively encouraged the Federal Communications Commission to rescind broadcasting licenses. CBS, ABC and NBC for their audacity to cover his presidency. He repeatedly labels journalists as “the enemy of the state” and threatens their imprisonment.
Unmoored from legal constraints, there’s nothing preventing Trump from transforming his vendetta against the press into sanctioned police actions. These reporters may not have committed any real crimes, just as Kilmer Abrego Garcia hasn’t.
This concept is one that every journalist and every American should deeply contemplate. We are witnessing a serious criminalization of dissenting political views and appalling disregard for the courts. As the Constitution is erased in plain sight, Republican lawmakers who vowed to uphold, safeguard, and defend it are now silently complicit.
This is what tyranny resembles. In a few months, this opinion piece might suffice to land me in a Salvadoran prison alongside countless other “disruptive” Americans.
We genuinely cannot predict this. That uncertainty is chilling. As the assurance of the rule of law fades, it’s impossible to know what tomorrow may hold, what Trump might decide, or what implications this poses for Palestinian students in Colombia, lawful immigrants from Baltimore, and opinion columnists like myself.
We have committed a grave error by allowing Trump to substitute the security and stability of the law with confusion stemming from capriciousness. If corrective measures are not enacted promptly, challenges will arise in the weeks and months ahead.
Max Burns is a seasoned Democratic strategist and the founder of Three-time Strategies.
