Weekly Spotlight: Is This a Tipping Point for the Balance of Power?

No one, not even the president, is above the rule of law. This principle draws the line against authoritarianism and keeps the federal government accountable to the people it serves. 

Last weekend, in defiance of federal court orders, President Donald Trump moved forward with removing more than 200 migrants from the United States. The majority of the people were removed without due legal process. 

Prior to the deportations, the administration invoked the draconian Alien Enemies Act with the declared purpose of deporting affiliates of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. But many of the people who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act do not have criminal records. 

The deportation flights took the people on board, primarily of Venezuelan descent, to El Salvador, where they are reportedly being detained with no contact with their families or legal counsel in prisons notorious for horrific conditions and human rights abuses. Many of the people on these flights have disappeared from ICE’s tracking system, leaving their families struggling to find information. 

The war-time Alien Enemies Act, last invoked during World War II, gives the government immense, overbroad power to engage in racial profiling and to imprison, detain, and deport people as young as 14 without a hearing. Its return presents immense danger for public safety, human rights, and civil rights. 

President Trump has already used the false claim of an “invasion” to justify abuses of power and extreme actions on immigration, including abusing emergency powers to send the military to the border and expanding expedited removal. His actions this week — invoking the war-time act when we are not at war, ignoring court orders, and calling for the impeachment of the judge who made said orders (a call so aggressive it was rebuked by Chief Justice John Roberts) — are an alarming escalation of executive branch overreach. They also warn of an impending constitutional crisis.  

The Trump administration has stonewalled the judge’s request for information about the deportation flights. The repeated disregard for orders from the judicial branch is a hallmark of authoritarianism, as we write in a new analysis, and puts the balance of powers in our government at risk of being toppled completely. The courts have the final word on law, and the administration must comply — and we all must hold them to it. 

ANALYSIS

A Big Step Toward Authoritarianism
The Trump administration is consolidating power by undermining the courts. Lawless deportations are the latest salvo.

INVESTIGATION

Meet the ICE Contractor Running Deportation Flights
CSI Aviation could make billions of dollars running deportation flights, despite its involvement in numerous high-profile controversies.

PRESS RELEASE

President Trump’s Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act is an Unconstitutional Power Grab 
This outdated wartime law enables the administration to deport and detain immigrants without due process.

POLICY LETTER

POGO Requests Ethics Investigation of Tesla Endorsements 
Ethics laws prevent endorsements by government employees, but some senior officials appear to be using their public office for private gain.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“They’re just going after programs that are politically advantageous to them in some way. The problem with waste is, that’s very much an eye of the beholder. One person’s waste is another person’s critical investment.”

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, in The New York Times

ONE LINERS

“The basic obligation of our system of government is that public service should not be entangled with personal financial gain. That’s ultimately what an oligarchy is — when you’re entangling political power with private gain. So these are the kinds of conflicts that get to the heart of what makes our constitution special, in a way.”

Danielle Brian, Executive Director, in The Washington Post

“So we do appear to be in kind of a lawless, accountability-free zone when it comes to ethics and financial disclosures and things like that right now.”

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, Director of Government Affairs, in Roll Call