Simon Sandoval-Moschenberg
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
How Deportations Work
They admit that they had no legal authority to remove him. And their defense in this case is that now that we've committed this egregious violation, the court has no power to order us to do anything about it.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
Good to be here, Rachel.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
So the Alien Enemies Act does not apply to Mr. Abrego Garcia. Right now, it only applies to Venezuelan nationals. Mr. Abrego Garcia, of course, is a Salvadoran national. I'm very worried for many of my Venezuelan clients. I have several clients who've been falsely accused of being members of Tren de Aragua. One, because he has a tattoo of baseball and is from the state of Aragua, for example.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
And they've formally accused him of being a member of that criminal gang. And the only reason they hadn't moved against him was the temporary restraining order entered by Judge Vosburgh. So we're very, very concerned with what they're going to do in his case and several other cases as well. But Mr. Obrego Garcia's case is not directly impacted.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
I mean, I think the case resonates with people's basic sense of fairness. If you mess something up, you have to fix it. The government has at no time claimed that they were correct to deport him to El Salvador. They're just claiming that what's done is done. And they're now under no obligation to fix it, to bring him back.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
Or to even, you know, so much as pick up the phone and make a phone call to try. And that just doesn't make sense to people in general. And, you know, I think ultimately the Supreme Court is going to agree that that's not the way the laws are structured.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
Yeah. I mean, they're the ones who turned this into a national case, right? I mean, this was, this is one guy, father from Maryland, you know, sheet metal worker, they deported by accident.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
I don't necessarily ascribe, you know, that they did it intentionally, but then they're the ones who decided once we sort of brought it to their attention, instead of doing what they've done in every other wrongful deportation case I've ever handled, which is just admit error and bring them back.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
They, you know, they decided that they were just going to dig in their heels and raise their legal defense to this case is that it would be impossible for them to bring him back. I don't think there's anyone in the United States who actually believes that as a matter of fact.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
It's so clear and Trump's comments make even clearer that we have a contractual agreement with the government of El Salvador vis-a-vis this prison. It's not, you know, we didn't just sort of drop him off in the country and then El Salvador, of their own decision, decided to arrest him and put him in their jail. We deported him directly into the prison.
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fierce backlash against Trump's agenda seen in sweeping, nation-wide protests
Thank you, Rachel.