In a country built on the promise of liberty and justice, the Trump administration continues to make a mockery of both. 

Following a bombshell ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation that revealed 238 Venezuelan immigrants—most without any U.S. criminal record—were deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, new developments make one thing painfully clear: Donald Trump and his allies do not care about the law, the Constitution, or the people their policies victimize.

The rule of law only applies when it suits them and when it doesn’t? Judges are being arrested, critics are threatened, due process is being suspended, and entire populations are stripped of rights under the guise of “public safety.” That’s not just rhetoric; it’s policy.

The latest example of this authoritarian drift comes from a newly uncovered Homeland Security data report published by ProPublica, which exposes how Donald Trump’s administration knowingly deported 238 Venezuelan immigrants—most of whom had no U.S. criminal convictions—to a Salvadoran maximum-security prison. 

These deportations weren’t the result of a careful vetting process or legitimate national security concerns. They were acts of political theater—designed to stoke fear, solidify a base, and demonize immigrants, especially immigrants of color. Internal DHS data confirmed that more than half of the deportees had no convictions in the U.S., while others were guilty only of minor infractions like traffic violations or retail theft. Despite this, they were branded as terrorists, loaded onto planes, and shipped to a foreign prison with no legal recourse, contact with their families, or access to counsel.

Ignoring Due Process Is the Point

To be clear, these deportations weren’t about law and order; it’s about optics and intimidation. More than half of the Venezuelans deported—130 men—had no U.S. criminal record or pending charges. Many were detained solely for immigration violations, a civil, not criminal offense; yet, they were painted as national security threats, stripped of their rights, and locked in cages thousands of miles away from their families and legal counsel.

This violation of U.S. constitutional protections is serving double duty as a warning shot to anyone who believes in the rule of law. As ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt put it, this amounts to a “blatant violation of the most fundamental due process principles.” But in the Trump era, such violations aren’t aberrations; they’re features.

A Lawless Administration Built by Felons

It should surprise no one that Trump’s administration operates with such disregard for legality. A growing list of his former cabinet members and close allies have either been convicted of felonies or were facing court cases—Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, and Linda McMahon, just to name a few. Curiously, many of their legal troubles vanished or were minimized once Trump took office. Pardons were and continue to be handed out like party favors to the politically loyal, while those who uphold the law face harassment, demotion, or outright removal.

Trump’s allies have consistently threatened and targeted judges, particularly those who’ve ruled against him. Federal judges have been subjected to online abuse, doxxing, and coordinated disinformation campaigns. In this climate, it’s clear that judicial independence is under siege—because Trumpism requires loyalty, not law.

A Campaign of Racialized Cruelty

At the heart of this is Trump’s longstanding disdain for immigrants, especially immigrants of color. During his first term, we watched families separated at the border, children locked in cages, and asylum seekers turned away without hearings. Trump’s comments have labeled immigrants “animals,” “rapists,” and “monsters”—language that echoes some of the darkest chapters in American history.

The administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to detain Venezuelans is the logical evolution of this cruelty. Despite DHS data confirming that most of these men had no ties to gangs or violent crime, Trump labeled them as members of the Tren de Aragua prison gang and shipped them off to El Salvador. Intelligence reports discredited the gang invasion narrative, but that didn’t stop the administration from pushing it—or from firing the officials who authored those reports, like Tulsi Gabbard’s purge of the intelligence community.

The Criminalization of Tattoos and the Weaponization of ICE

One man, Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, a 31-year old  a Venezuelan soccer coach with no criminal history, has tattoos inspired by soccer teams and family tributes that were enough to justify his expulsion.

In some cases, as with 23-year-old Wilker Miguel Gutiérrez Sierra, who was arrested but had not yet stood trial, immigrants are ripped from the justice system entirely. A not-guilty plea no longer guarantees your day in court. If you’re an immigrant and you’ve been accused, that’s enough. You’ll be shipped off before a jury ever hears your case.

Despite the ongoing legal issues with their immigration policies, Stephen Miller has reportedly continued issuing quotas, demanding ICE detain 3,000 immigrants a day, with federal law enforcement forcibly reorganizing to support these mass deportation efforts. The FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals, and even IRS agents have been reassigned to immigration duties, sidelining other criminal investigations. Entire Justice Department teams have been disbanded in favor of immigration task forces, and agents are now told to ask one question before deciding whether to prosecute a case: What’s the immigration status?

Collateral Damage: America’s Legal System

The broader impact of Trump’s immigration obsession is the degradation of our legal institutions. By prioritizing immigration enforcement above all else—even when the individuals involved haven’t committed crimes—the administration has de-prioritized national security investigations, delayed criminal prosecutions, and blurred the line between administrative violations and actual crime.

Prosecutors are walking away from serious cases because they don’t involve immigrants. Law enforcement agencies are being diverted from major investigations. And judges are afraid to issue rulings that go against Trump’s agenda for fear of retaliation.

The Bottom Line

The deportation of innocent Venezuelans is not an isolated incident. It’s part of a broader strategy—one that weaponizes fear, undermines law, and targets the most vulnerable to score political points.

Trump and his allies don’t care about due process. They don’t care about the Constitution. They don’t care about the law.

What they do care about is power, and if that means branding innocent immigrants as terrorists, intimidating judges, or using 18th-century laws to disappear people into foreign prisons, so be it.

These deportations expose the Trump administration’s deeper goal to erode the fundamental pillars of democracy under the guise of immigration enforcement. From threatening to suspend habeas corpus to invoking wartime laws, this isn’t about border security; it’s about consolidating unchecked executive power.

The administration’s disregard for due process is an attack on the rule of law, on our judiciary, and on the very soul of this nation. Our legal system, which Trump is bending to his will, is being reshaped in ways that will affect all Americans. Judicial independence is being threatened. Federal law enforcement is being politicized, and the rights we take for granted—like the right to a trial, the right to be presumed innocent—are being hollowed out in real time.

In the end, this is not about Venezuelan immigrants, gang affiliation, or keeping America safe. It’s about power. It’s about targeting those without it while protecting those who abuse it, and it’s up to the rest of us to expose that hypocrisy and stop it before due process becomes a relic of the past.

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