03/19/25 (Special Episode)

Good morning! It’s Wednesday, March 19th. Special episode day.

That’s right, if you’re hearing this and you’re subscribed to this show, there should be another episode in the feed. That one’s a classic episode, with a bunch of very important news for you to know about. If you’re not already subscribed to the show… well that’s awkward. What are you doing? It’s literally free!

Anyway, and now, the special episode.

Special Episode: American Deportations

-via AP News, The Guardian, AP News, Aljazeera, VOX, NPR, The Hill, CBS News, and CNN

In 1789 – whoa, Kim’s going all the way back to the 1700s. This is gonna be a big episode! Yeah! It’s a special episode, what did you think we were doing here?

In 1789, Congress passed something called the Alien and Sedition Acts which were four laws written to restrict immigration and free speech. I mean, not all free speech, just free speech seen as anti-American. Those four acts are as follows:

The Naturalization Act, which increased the residency requirement for U.S. citizenship from 5 to 14 years.

The Alien Act, which allowed the president to deport any alien deemed dangerous. (They use the word alien. I, and many others, have evolved past that outdated language. But, you know, unfortunately, that’s still the word used in these old laws)

The Alien Enemies Act, which authorized the president to arrest, imprison, and deport any non-citizen from a country at war with the US.

And the Sedition Act, which limited freedom of speech and press by criminalizing "false, scandalous, and malicious writing" against the government, Congress, or the president.

Since its creation, it’s only been used three times – the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II. All wars! This law has never been used without a Congressional declaration of war.

Most famously it was used in World War II to intern 120,000 Japanese immigrants and as well as US citizens of Japanese descent. An action so heinous that the government later apologized and paid reparations.

However, the law remains in the books.

And though it has gone untouched since 1948, 77 years later Trump is now using that law in a way that is unprecedented, unethical, and probably illegal.

Over the weekend it was used to send about 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador. As you may recall, Marco Rubio went to El Salvador and their president was all too thrilled to house people from America in their notoriously violent, and overcrowded, prisons.

The Trump administration claims that these 250 or so folks are all members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang.

However, it’s important to note that none of those who were sent to a country that they’re not even from have been convicted.

Now, is it possible that some of the 250 people sent to El Salvador are part of the gang? Sure, anything’s possible.

But we don’t know for sure. And knowing for sure should be a pretty big part of this, especially when you’re sending someone to some of the worst prison conditions imaginable.

So if you’re hearing this and thinking… well this isn’t right. You’re right! A US District Judge issued an order hours after Trump invoked that wartime act, to stop them from deporting anyone. They also specially added that planes who may have already left should turn around.

However, the Trump administration ignored that ruling.

There is another day in court for this on Friday, where the Trump administration is expected to be asked to show proof of why they didn’t turn the planes around. What happens if they don’t show that proof is, uh… unknown!

Now, I will say that, although there are some Supreme Court justices who take private jets and have wives who are fond of flying flags, overall many judges aren’t thrilled with Trump just ignoring what they say.

On Tuesday morning, Trump went to his ironically named Truth Social and unleashed a truly unhinged post about the judge who ruled sending these Venezuelans to El Salvador was illegal. Look, we’re all used to him going wild on Truth Social but this post is really something special to not behold. (Really, it’s not worth your time.)

In his unhinged post, he called for the judge to be impeached.

Which was a bridge too far for Chief Justice Roberts, who issued an usual statement (the statement wasn’t unusual, it was that he did it at all that stands out). In a short note, Roberts said "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose."

In other words, as gently as humanly possible… hey man, not great.

Would love it to be a little less gentle, to be honest, but we’ll take what we can get with this court.

So that’s 250 Venezuelans.

But there are a few other, very serious, stories you also need to be keeping an eye on.

First, graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. An immigrant of Palestinian descent who, as a student at Columbia University, took part in last Spring’s protest against the war in Gaza. Then, on March 8th of this year, with his wife, who is a citizen, just weeks away from giving birth, federal agents came to his door. First, they said they were there because he had overstayed his student visa. When that was found to be a lie, they took him anyway.

Khalil has a green card which gives him lawful permanent residency here in the United States.

But he was using his First Amendment right in a way that displeased this administration.

So he was taken to a detention center in Louisiana. He lives in, and was arrested in, New York.

It is still unclear what he’s being detained for. He has not been accused of a crime. Instead, this lawful resident of the United States was taken from his home, from his family, because he took part in a Constitutionally-protected protest.

The officers were in plain clothes, never showed a warrant, and before he was found in Louisiana, neither his wife, nor a lawyer, knew where he was.

That’s Mahmoud Khalil.

There’s also the story of Rasha Alawieh, a professor at Brown University. She is alleged to have “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures on her cell phone. She was detained at Logan international airport in Boston after a trip to visit family in Lebanon.

On Friday, a US district court said the federal government needed to give 48 hours’ notice before they remove her from the country for what they say is support of Hezbollah. She told federal agents that she’d recently attended the funeral of a Hezbollah leader whom she supported from a “religious perspective.”

Judge says the government needs to give 48 hours – US Customs and Border Protection ignored that and sent her to Paris, which is believed to be a layover back to Lebanon.

Deported a Brown University professor against a judge’s ruling.

And taken together, those three stories paint a dangerous picture where this administration is currently, right now, illegally disappearing people from this country for either being from a country Trump doesn’t like or holding political or religious views Trump doesn’t like.

Our deal here in this country, one of our deals, is that we have a justice system in which people are presumed innocent.

And yes, of course that’s not how it goes. But sometimes we at least pretend.

We have a first amendment.

We have freedom of religion.

We have these rules and laws. And judges to hold it all up.

But we are in a moment, right now, where the president of the United States is going against all of that.

And there are things we can do, of course. We can find and build community, and use that community to pressure local electeds to fight back. We can make sure we’re voting in every election. We are researching our judges and only electing the best ones.

And we can use any privilege we may find ourselves with to protect those for whom this administration is a deadly threat.

Because this is happening.

This isn’t something he wants to do. This isn’t a worst-case scenario. This is happening right now and if we don’t make all the noise we can, it will only get worse.

Make trouble. Good trouble.

Get in the way.

Lives depend on it.

And that’s it. That’s the special episode.

I’m proud of people who are fighting back against the unethical and unconstitutional actions of this feckless president and his abhorrent policies.

And because I know you understand the urgency of this moment. Because you will hold these stories in your head and in your heart and fight back against all of it… I’m proud of you.