{"id":110815,"date":"2025-03-18T17:40:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T01:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/18\/trump-admin-unveils-new-legal-standard-we-have-no-proof-which-actually-proves-our-case\/"},"modified":"2025-03-18T17:40:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T01:40:06","slug":"trump-admin-unveils-new-legal-standard-we-have-no-proof-which-actually-proves-our-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/03\/18\/trump-admin-unveils-new-legal-standard-we-have-no-proof-which-actually-proves-our-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Admin Unveils New Legal Standard: \u2018We Have No Proof, Which Actually Proves Our Case\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The federal government took a couple hundred alleged gang members that they haven\u2019t been able to actually convict of anything and sold them to a slave labor camp in El Salvador. The move violated a court order based, in no small part, on the fact that the Enemy Aliens Act actually requires a war with or invasion by a \u201cforeign nation or government.\u201d Which, minor detail for the textualists out there, is not happening here. The Trump administration responded with a crackpot theory about laws not applying in international waters<\/a> followed by the even more batshit claim that court orders don\u2019t apply unless they\u2019re in writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet this wasn\u2019t even the craziest legal argument they uncorked.<\/p>\n

The term \u201calleged\u201d is doing even more heavy lifting than the inmates toiling in El Salvador. The administration didn\u2019t choose to move convicted<\/em> migrant gang members to Central American Azkaban, but rather a bunch of suspects that the government apparently didn\u2019t feel like actually charging or convicting of anything. For rule of law fans, when the White House call this \u201ca plane full of rapists, murderers, and gangsters<\/a>\u201d what they mean is \u201ca plane full of people that we can\u2019t prove are criminals at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t take my word for it\u2026 that\u2019s actually the administration\u2019s argument!<\/p>\n

\n

While it is true that many of the TdA members removed under the AEA do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time. The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA, the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s from the declaration of ICE Field Officer Robert Cerna claiming that their complete lack of any evidence is actually a PLUS because \u201cthe lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esteemed members of the jury, we have no motive or opportunity or physical evidence tying the defendant to the crime. But \u2014 in a sense \u2014 doesn\u2019t it prove how good he was at covering it up?<\/em><\/p>\n

We already know that several of these deported individuals had no apparent gang ties beyond \u201chaving tattoos,\u201d<\/a> which should concern everyone but especially America\u2019s goth girls.<\/p>\n

It should go without saying that the government shouldn\u2019t imprison people \u2014 here or abroad \u2014 without any evidence of criminality. If the government thinks a non-criminal<\/em> migrant presents a threat then they can kick them out of the country but they cannot unilaterally decide that their untested suspicions justify prison time in another country.<\/p>\n

Look, if you think the government has a good case for shipping convicted<\/em> foreign nationals to serve their U.S. sentences in foreign prisons that lack basic human rights protections \u2014 well, you\u2019re still wrong but at least you have an argument<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Honestly, if you\u2019re a right-leaning, \u201claw and order\u201d type who firmly believes that the government should send the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d to a foreign prison, then\u2026 WHY NOT SEND CONVICTS? <\/p>\n

There are plenty of immigrant gang members in American prisons now. Why is the first step removing random suspects? Does that not give you any<\/em> pause that the government isn\u2019t really interested in getting rid of dangerous criminals so much as eroding the legal barriers and setting a precedent to imprison migrants without due process?<\/p>\n

But the important thing is that the government is willing to tell a court, with a straight face, that the lack<\/em> of evidence is not only not a barrier to prison but a justification<\/em>. That\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

And very bad.<\/p>\n

(Full declaration can be found below.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Trump White House Tests Supreme Court Loyalty With Increasingly Crackpot Legal Arguments<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

show_temp<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n

The post Trump Admin Unveils New Legal Standard: \u2018We Have No Proof, Which Actually Proves Our Case\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The federal government took a couple hundred alleged gang members that they haven\u2019t been able to actually convict of anything and sold them to a slave labor camp in El Salvador. The move violated a court order based, in no small part, on the fact that the Enemy Aliens Act actually requires a war with or invasion by a \u201cforeign nation or government.\u201d Which, minor detail for the textualists out there, is not happening here. The Trump administration responded with a crackpot theory about laws not applying in international waters<\/a> followed by the even more batshit claim that court orders don\u2019t apply unless they\u2019re in writing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet this wasn\u2019t even the craziest legal argument they uncorked.<\/p>\n

The term \u201calleged\u201d is doing even more heavy lifting than the inmates toiling in El Salvador. The administration didn\u2019t choose to move convicted<\/em> migrant gang members to Central American Azkaban, but rather a bunch of suspects that the government apparently didn\u2019t feel like actually charging or convicting of anything. For rule of law fans, when the White House call this \u201ca plane full of rapists, murderers, and gangsters<\/a>\u201d what they mean is \u201ca plane full of people that we can\u2019t prove are criminals at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t take my word for it\u2026 that\u2019s actually the administration\u2019s argument!<\/p>\n

\n

While it is true that many of the TdA members removed under the AEA do not have criminal records in the United States, that is because they have only been in the United States for a short period of time. The lack of a criminal record does not indicate they pose a limited threat. In fact, based upon their association with TdA, the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose. It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s from the declaration of ICE Field Officer Robert Cerna claiming that their complete lack of any evidence is actually a PLUS because \u201cthe lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Esteemed members of the jury, we have no motive or opportunity or physical evidence tying the defendant to the crime. But \u2014 in a sense \u2014 doesn\u2019t it prove how good he was at covering it up?<\/em><\/p>\n

We already know that several of these deported individuals had no apparent gang ties beyond \u201chaving tattoos,\u201d<\/a> which should concern everyone but especially America\u2019s goth girls.<\/p>\n

It should go without saying that the government shouldn\u2019t imprison people \u2014 here or abroad \u2014 without any evidence of criminality. If the government thinks a non-criminal<\/em> migrant presents a threat then they can kick them out of the country but they cannot unilaterally decide that their untested suspicions justify prison time in another country.<\/p>\n

Look, if you think the government has a good case for shipping convicted<\/em> foreign nationals to serve their U.S. sentences in foreign prisons that lack basic human rights protections \u2014 well, you\u2019re still wrong but at least you have an argument<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Honestly, if you\u2019re a right-leaning, \u201claw and order\u201d type who firmly believes that the government should send the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d to a foreign prison, then\u2026 WHY NOT SEND CONVICTS? <\/p>\n

There are plenty of immigrant gang members in American prisons now. Why is the first step removing random suspects? Does that not give you any<\/em> pause that the government isn\u2019t really interested in getting rid of dangerous criminals so much as eroding the legal barriers and setting a precedent to imprison migrants without due process?<\/p>\n

But the important thing is that the government is willing to tell a court, with a straight face, that the lack<\/em> of evidence is not only not a barrier to prison but a justification<\/em>. That\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

And very bad.<\/p>\n

(Full declaration can be found below.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Trump White House Tests Supreme Court Loyalty With Increasingly Crackpot Legal Arguments<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"Headshot\"Joe Patrice<\/a>\u00a0is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. Feel free to\u00a0email<\/a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky<\/a> if you\u2019re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

show_temp<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government took a couple hundred alleged gang members that they haven\u2019t been able to actually convict of anything and sold them to a slave labor camp in El Salvador. The move violated a court order based, in no small part, on the fact that the Enemy Aliens Act actually requires a war with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":110816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Headshot-300x200-haTfao.jpeg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}