Rachel Maddow

At least not without giving that person a chance to make the case that they might be in danger if they were sent there. And I'm not going to read you the whole thing. I know it's my want to read court rulings at length. I'm just going to read you just a paragraph from this ruling. But this is one of those rulings. You can almost feel like it might be written in all capital letters.

It's not, but it has that vibe. It is making the point of this ruling very, very, very clear.

It's not, but it has that vibe. It is making the point of this ruling very, very, very clear.

Let me read to you what the judge said, quote, defendants, meaning the Trump administration, defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation.

Let me read to you what the judge said, quote, defendants, meaning the Trump administration, defendants argue that the United States may send a deportable alien to a country not of their origin, not where an immigration judge has ordered, where they may be immediately tortured and killed without providing that person any opportunity to tell the deporting authorities that they face grave danger or death because of such a deportation.

All nine sitting justices of the United States Supreme Court, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, excuse me, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, I'm going to start again, sorry.

All nine sitting justices of the United States Supreme Court, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, excuse me, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, I'm going to start again, sorry.

All nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, common sense, basic decency, and this court all disagree with that contention from the defendants. Now, this ruling will stop some of what Trump is trying to do in sending people to random countries they're not connected to.

All nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States Congress, common sense, basic decency, and this court all disagree with that contention from the defendants. Now, this ruling will stop some of what Trump is trying to do in sending people to random countries they're not connected to.

The class to which this ruling applies includes any non-citizen who's had a final order of removal from this country. So it's people who have gone through the immigration process and, from a court, received an order of removal.

The class to which this ruling applies includes any non-citizen who's had a final order of removal from this country. So it's people who have gone through the immigration process and, from a court, received an order of removal.

That, however, is not the circumstance for most of the people who the Trump administration has been shipping to El Salvador, to the lawless, bizarre, draconian forever prison there from which the U.S. government purports to not even have the power to remove people and return people that it admits it sent there by mistake.

That, however, is not the circumstance for most of the people who the Trump administration has been shipping to El Salvador, to the lawless, bizarre, draconian forever prison there from which the U.S. government purports to not even have the power to remove people and return people that it admits it sent there by mistake.

The Washington Post reported late last night that the whole basis the Trump administration has cited for why it's using that Salvadoran prison, for why it's using the wartime Alien Enemies Act to send people to that prison, why it's using the Alien Enemies Act to deny any kind of due process at all for the people they're shipping to that prison—

The Washington Post reported late last night that the whole basis the Trump administration has cited for why it's using that Salvadoran prison, for why it's using the wartime Alien Enemies Act to send people to that prison, why it's using the Alien Enemies Act to deny any kind of due process at all for the people they're shipping to that prison—

The Trump administration's justification for doing that is because, in their minds, what they've affirmed in saying that's why they're using that law is that they contend that the United States is at war with Venezuela. And that's the justification for Trump using that law. And that comes as a surprise, right? Did you know we were at war with Venezuela?

The Trump administration's justification for doing that is because, in their minds, what they've affirmed in saying that's why they're using that law is that they contend that the United States is at war with Venezuela. And that's the justification for Trump using that law. And that comes as a surprise, right? Did you know we were at war with Venezuela?

The whole legal basis for the Trump administration claiming the right to do this in the way they've been doing it is that they say there is this criminal gang in Venezuela, this Trenderagua gang, and the Trump administration's contention is that that gang, that criminal gang, isn't just a gang. Well, it is a gang, but they're also another thing which gives Trump this kind of magic legal powers.

The whole legal basis for the Trump administration claiming the right to do this in the way they've been doing it is that they say there is this criminal gang in Venezuela, this Trenderagua gang, and the Trump administration's contention is that that gang, that criminal gang, isn't just a gang. Well, it is a gang, but they're also another thing which gives Trump this kind of magic legal powers.

Their contention is that that gang has supposedly been like deployed here on orders from Venezuela's president. Like he has sent them here as a little undercover army to invade us at his command on behalf of the government of Venezuela as a way of that country waging war against our country. And so they're like an army that we're fighting against because we're at war with that country.