Weekly Spotlight: Justices Fail to Check a Brazen Power Grab

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Editor’s Note: We’ve revamped the Weekly Spotlight to ensure we’re better informing you of the latest happenings in the news and in POGO’s work. 

CHECKS AND BALANCES

SCOTUS removes block on Alien Enemies Act deportations

On Thursday, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man deported to an El Salvador prison due to an “administrative error.” We’re relieved the court is holding the White House responsible for this grave and illegal deportation. But earlier in the week, the Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling allowing the administration to move forward with abusing the wartime Alien Enemies Act. Their failure to check the executive branch on this brazen power grab clears the way for more lawless removals. 

• Ordering Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return is just the start — the courts and Congress must hold the White House accountable for following through. They need to demand that the White House tell President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador to facilitate Garcia’s return when the two presidents meet in DC on Monday.
• The ruling on the Alien Enemies Act calls on the administration to honor due process but ignores the fact that it would be virtually impossible for the people being detained to file a lawsuit, POGO’s own Katherine Hawkins explains in Newsweek.
• Due process is a constitutional right entitled to everyone on U.S. soil. Disregard for due process is a danger to everyone in the United States, regardless of citizenship status.  
   
• IMMIGRATION AND SURVEILLANCE Law enforcement and government agencies can buy location data about anyone from data brokers. POGO’s Don Bell urged the Massachusetts State Legislature to close this loophole in a critical state-level battle to protect your Fourth Amendment rights.

POGO INVESTIGATIONS DESK

He had HIV. He died after it went untreated in ICE custody.

Our investigations team obtained a medical examiner’s report documenting a range of infections, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis, that a man being held in ICE custody had at the time of his death. The man did not receive treatment for HIV or tuberculosis for the five months he was held at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona and died from complications of the disease. Experts have long warned about fatal medical neglect in ICE custody.

• Not a one-off incident: In Louisiana, Rümeysa Öztürk, a student protestor who was arrested and detained by ICE last month, says she is having difficulty getting medical attention for her asthma. She called the conditions in the facility “very unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane.”
• Dig deeper: A 2023 POGO investigation made public closely guarded DHS reports about health, welfare, and safety failures in ICE facilities across the country. (This investigation is covered in-depth in Season 2 of our podcast, Bad Watchdog.)
• ICYMI ICE Deportation Flight Assault Goes Unreported By Agency: An incident of excessive force being used on a man in full-body restraints onboard an ICE deportation flight went unreported by the agency. We make the details public in a new investigation. 

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Congress signs off on billions in unchecked spending

Both chambers of Congress passed a multi-trillion-dollar budget resolution that could increase the Pentagon budget by $150 billion and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget by $175 billion. These agencies are in desperate need of reform and oversight. Funneling additional money to them without addressing sources of waste, misconduct, and abuse will undoubtedly exacerbate existing issues and create new ones.

• OP-ED Trump Isn’t Policing Our Immigration Police: Oversight offices at DHS are actively being gutted. A “giant check with virtually no accountability” will make a bad situation untenable, POGO’s Sarah Turberville and POGO Board Member and former DHS Inspector General John Roth write in US News.
• This budget resolution could fund new boondoggles like the “Golden Dome.” Design options were sent to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for consideration this week
• The acting director of ICE shared his dehumanizing vision for the administration’s mass deportation agenda: “Like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

Getting a crucial database back online

Last month, the Trump administration undid a hard-fought reform when they took down a transparency tool that made public important data about how the executive branch is spending congressionally allocated funds — and they’ve kept it down, despite the backlash. The White House is legally required to make this data public so they can be held accountable. We led a letter urging Congress to question this transgression and use their authority to get this crucial database back online.

• Read our letter to the appropriations committees, signed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Protect Democracy, R Street Institute, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and other good government groups.