Quit calling it ‘deportation’

There’s a better word for it.

Apparently, we need a vocabulary lesson here. I copied this directly from Wikipedia:

Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory.

Image: Screen shot from Channel 4 News

Merriam Webster defines it as “the removal from a country of an alien whose presence is unlawful or prejudicial.” Cambridge defines it as “the action of forcing someone to leave a country, especially someone who has no legal right to be there or who has broken the law.”

And this is a direct quote from the US.gov website:

Deportation is the process of removing a noncitizen from the U.S. for violating immigration law.

The U.S. may detain and deport noncitizens who:

• Participate in criminal acts

• Are a threat to public safety

• Violate their visa

Deportation has been in the news a lot since Donald Trump returned to the White House. He promised that if elected, he would carry out the largest deportation program since Eisenhower. It was his signature issue. And the American voters knew this when they elected him in November.

We can debate what actions warrant deportation from the U.S. Some believe that immigrants should be ousted for even minor infractions like traffic violations. Others believe that deporting people who engaged in political protests is a violation of their free speech rights. But that’s not the point I want to make today. I’m willing to stipulate that the United States has the right to remove any foreigner from its jurisdiction for whatever reason it chooses. I don’t even want to haggle over due process, refugees versus “illegal aliens,” or what rights permanent legal residents and student visa holders have. Whether we agree or disagree on the justifications and the process, but the United States absolutely CAN deport non citizens.

But that’s not what we’re doing. Or rather, that’s not ALL we’re doing. When we deport people, we put them on a plane and return them to their country of origin, or another country that agrees to accept them. Once there, they are free. None of the definitions of deportation include flying people to a foreign country and paying to have them imprisoned. I believe the correct legal term for imprisoning someone without due process is “kidnapping.”

And that’s exactly what our government has done by sending people to prison in El Salvador. They justify it, because these are “bad people.” They’re gang members! They have the tattoos to prove it! Why would anyone argue to bring them back to America? I get that argument. I’m sure most of the guys in those photos are not people I want living next door to me.

So, here’s my question to all the people who think it’s awesome that we’re holding these men prisoner: What crime have any of them committed that’s worse than cold blooded murder?

Most of you have heard about Laken Riley, the University of Georgia coed that was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan national (refugee, illegal alien – apply whichever term you want to him.) Her killer was arrested, tried in our legal system, and sentenced to life in prison HERE IN AMERICA. That’s what we do to criminals in this country. I couldn’t find information as to which Georgia prison he’s in now, but I guarantee you it’s a much nicer facility than the “Center for Terrorism Confinement” in El Salvador. CNN did an investigation of this place, and the conditions are brutal. The prisoners are locked up 23 ½ hours per day. No meat is served. They are allowed no visitors or letters. We hold convicted rapists and murderers in better conditions that this. What possible justification can there be? They’re gang members? Even if true, that’s not a crime. They committed violent acts? OK, please present that evidence. If they committed crimes in this country, they should have been tried for those crimes IN THIS COUNTRY! We call that due process. It’s not a difficult concept.

Most of the attention has centered on Kilmar Ábrego García, who is indeed from El Salvador, because he had a protection order. But our news keeps reporting him as “wrongfully deported.” If we deported him, we would have put him on a plane to El Salvador and LET HIM GO. If the El Salvador government had subsequently arrested him, then really that’s not our problem. Instead, our government detained him, jailed him, shackled him, transported him, and handed him over to the custody of the El Salvadoran prison system and is now paying to have him incarcerated with your tax dollars. The majority of these prisoners are not from El Salvador. They’re from Venezuela. What right does the United States have to hold these men in prison in a foreign country? They were not “deported.” If they were deported, they would be free. What they are isprisoners. This was done by our government and paid for by our citizens.

A friend on social media asked “How is this any different from a concentration camp?” The only difference I can tell is that the Germans loaded people on trains and shipped them to Poland. We put them on a military plane and shipped them to El Salvador. Oh, but the victims of Auschwitz were innocent and these men are guilty. If that’s true, our government needs to prove it, in court. Or bring them back.