Ari Weitzman (11:01)
Alright, first up, let's start with what the left is saying. The left is outraged by Bukele and the administration's comments arguing that Trump is laying the groundwork to imprison U.S. citizens abroad. Some say Bukele gave the administration cover for its defiance of the courts. Others call on the Supreme Court to issue a firmer order on the case. In the Hill, Max Burns wrote, you could be the next one unlawfully imprisoned in Trump's Salvadoran gulag. The idea that Trump would deport US Citizens to specially built foreign megaprisons outside the reach of the American justice system should cause a national shockwave, Burns said. If Trump can willfully violate a unanimous Supreme Court order and strip due process rights from legal noncitizens, there is nothing stopping him from doing the same to Americans. Gilmar Abrego Garcia's unending nightmare is not some bizarre legal freak of nature. It is a warning that once a president has discarded the rule of law for some people, nothing stops him from discarding the rule of law for anyone. Bukele's sprawling Secat megaprison has earned a horrific reputation for violence and torture. Many legal migrants who have committed no crimes now live in fear of being black bagged and shipped off to El Salvador. This is part of the cultural terrorism Trump hoped to inflict, burns wrote. We are living through a profound criminalization of political opinion and horrifying disregard of the courts. Republican lawmakers who swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution now stand passively mute as that Constitution is trampled in full view of the public. In msnbc, Jordan Rubin suggested Nayib Bukele's White House performance plays into Trump's litigation defiance ahead of a Tuesday hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case. A court filing from the Trump administration also shows how US Officials are enlisting Bukele in their defiant litigation stance in that case, Rubin said. The government status report, which appeared on the docket about an hour after the administration's 5pm deadline, quoted Bukele's response to a reporter's question. I hope you're not suggesting that I smuggle a terrorist into the United States. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it. Monday's reference to Bukele's comments simply offers them without explaining the government's view on their relevance. The administration's implication could be that there's no point in taking any facilitation steps because they won't lead to Abrego Garcia's return without Bukele's support. But again, that doesn't address the underlying question of what steps US Officials have taken to comply with the order to facilitate Abrego Garcia's return, regardless of whether those steps are ultimately successful. In Newsweek, Thomas G. McCosher said the Supreme Court must make Trump feel pain. The administration is making a mockery of the court. Bukele even flew up to join in the fun, declaring in the Oval Office in front of a smiling Trump, of course I'm not going to do it. What do they have to do before the Supreme Court takes this seriously? Climb up to the courthouse steps and slap each one of the justices in the face? McCaughre said. Unfortunately, the justices asked for this treatment when they gave Trump enormous loopholes in their recent order. They suggested Judge Polizanis likely couldn't order Trump's administration to effectuate Abreco Garcia's return to ensure it actually happened. Yes, we can sympathize with the high court as it tries to head off a showdown with the Trump administration. But shouldn't they understand Trump by now? He's a mini mafia boss, a bully who backs down when people stand up to him and runs roughshod when they don't, McCosher said. Justices, there's nowhere to hide. Let the lower court build a record. It issued a clear directive. Trump himself controls this matter and is ignoring the order. Zenis should find Trump personally in an amount that he will pay attention to. Let's say $5 million a day collectible after he leaves office until he obeys. Alright, that is it for what the left is saying. Which brings us to what the right is saying. Many on the right criticize Democrats for prioritizing Abrego Garcia's case over domestic issues. Some say the left is blowing the story out of proportion at its own peril. Others caution against escalating a standoff with the court. In the Federalist, Eddie Scarry said Democrats drop everything to bring back a deported illegal alien. Maryland Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen flew 2,000 miles on Wednesday from Washington, D.C. to San Salvador, arranging a meeting with local and American officials there. Van Hollen isn't facilitating the rescue of a wrongly accused imprisoned US Citizen or engaging in diplomatic relations with a foreign nation. He's literally there conducting a welfare check on a Salvadoran, skerry wrote. I guess there weren't any actual US Citizens in need of Van Hollen's time. If there are, surely they can wait while he addresses the needs of a Salvadoran first. In any event, the Trump administration sent him to El Salvador again, his home. And though a subsequent court order by Democrat appointed Judge Polozenis demanded that he be returned to the US Both the White House and El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele have said they won't and can't. Scarry said Van Hollen won't be the last Democrat to embark on the holy journey for noncitizens who broke the law by trespassing our borders. Every Democrat in Congress should make the trip and let their constituents, the American ones, know where their priorities lie. In the Washington Examiner, Kahn Carroll argued Abrego Garcia isn't the winning political issue Democrats think he is. One might think that with President Donald Trump unilaterally sending the economy into recession, Democrats might become at least temporary champions of free trade in an effort to find their way back out of the political wilderness. But instead, Democrats have chosen a different path. Despite the fact that immigration is the one issue voters still give Trump the highest marks on Democrats have chosen to make a man named Kilmar Abrego Garcia the face of Trump's resistance, carroll wrote. The problem is that Democrats leave out a lot of Garcia's story, and the truth makes Trump's failure to return him quite reasonable. For starters, Garcia was not in the United States legally. By his lawyer's own admission, he entered the country illegally in 2011. Then, eight years later, Garcia was arrested at a Home Depot while illegally soliciting employment, carroll wrote. After years of aiding and abetting a completely open border where thousands of murdering rapists like Jose Antonio Ibera, Victor Antonio Martinez Hernandez and Johan Jose Martinez Wrangel were free to enter without any meaningful background check, the argument by the Democrats that Trump should now move heaven and earth to bring an admitted illegal immigrant back to the United States even though he has no legal right to be here rings hollow, the Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote about Trump, Abrego Garcia and the courts. The judge on Friday demanded an immediate administration report. And now the White House seems to have decided it can do a legal dance to claim it doesn't have to facilitate anything. That was clear from the Kabuki theater Monday when Mr. Trump appeared in the Oval Office with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, the board said. Since Mr. Bukele says he won't cooperate, the US can say it can't deliver. The federal courts lack authority to direct the president's foreign policy under Article 2 of the Constitution, let alone the actions of El Salvador. Mr. Trump would be wise to settle all of this quietly by asking Mr. Bukele to return Mr. Abrego Garcia, who has a family in the US but the President may be bloody minded enough that he wants to show the judiciary who's boss, the board wrote Mr. Trump would be smart to play the long game. He has many much bigger issues than the fate of one man that will come before the Supreme Court. By taunting the judiciary in this manner, he is inviting a rebuke on cases that carry far greater stakes. All right, let's head over to Isaac for his take.