Dispatches of alarm and hope, on politics and society, democracy and justice. Because silence is not an option. We may read and write alone, but we drive change together.

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Reveling in Terror Tactics

The sociopathic Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem flaunts her rejection of justice by proudly promoting the illegal removal of refugees

Steven Beschloss Mar 28

Who are the real terrorists? Kristi Noem made a video in El Salvador Wednesday. (Photo by Alex Brandon/AFP via Getty Images)

The last time many of us paid close attention to Kristi Noem, we learned that she shot her own dog because she didn’t like the way it was behaving. She likely included this charming anecdote in her book because she thought it would increase her bonafides with certain people who admire a killer instinct.

Noem’s cruel, grotesque behavior—what she described as her readiness to do what’s needed of her no matter how “difficult, messy and ugly”—may have derailed her book tour, but it surely appealed to the violence-loving, dog-hating Donald Trump. Clearly, he wanted a ravenously ambitious Homeland Security secretary who could be his killer without concern about obstacles like justice and laws.

On Wednesday, Noem showed up in El Salvador to visit the heinous prison where the Trump regime has deported more than 200 people without due process. The images are chilling—and not only because the cells are over-stuffed with prisoners with shaved heads, stacked on top of each other and reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps.

The photographs and video also spotlight a fundamental denial of human rights—all for the ugly and messy purpose of promoting the cruel and unjust treatment as a deterrent. “Know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people,” said Noem in a video released Wednesday, cosplaying an ICE foot soldier as she stood in front of the cages.

This hateful propaganda—in which she called the prisoners “terrorists” without evidence—is brought to you by Trump’s America and the sycophantic former South Dakota governor that 59 U.S. senators confirmed to oversee the nation’s security. Goodbye justice, goodbye even an iota of decency, hello hatred, hello cruelty. Never mind that they are defying the court orders of federal judge James Boasberg by keeping these men there.

Experts define terrorism as the use of illegal violence and intimidation to achieve their political goals. But ask yourself: When Noem calls the prisoners in El Salvador cages “terrorists” without evidence, who really deserves that label?

Even if these individuals were genuinely determined to be criminals—people who the Trump regime insists are part of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang—the deportation to this prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center would still be appalling. But in a regime that skips evidence and relies on bigotry, violence and lies to justify its actions, we have no way of knowing how many of those deported have any criminal record.

We do know of some outrageous cases chronicled by Mother Jones of Venezuelans swept up for the mere fact that they have a tattoo. One is Arturo Suárez Trejo, a new father, a husband and an aspiring pop musician who his wife said has a hummingbird tattoo intended to symbolize “harmony and good energy.” Another is Neri Alvarado Borges, who works at a bakery, helps take care of an autistic brother and has a tattoo in the shape of an autism awareness ribbon commemorated with his brother’s name.

There are Americans cheering for these unjust deportations because they’ve been convinced by Trump’s dehumanizing, demonizing verbiage that immigrants are not deserving of humane treatment. But we can be sure this is not the end—this is just the beginning of this fascist regime’s terror campaign aimed at deterring refugees, savoring cruelty and silencing dissent. They may call deported migrants “the worst of the worst,” but we know they’re lusting to widen their net against perceived enemies.

That was on full display in broad daylight Tuesday in Boston when masked federal agents in hoodies stopped and handcuffed a Tufts University doctoral student and Fulbright scholar. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and Muslim wearing a hijab, was put into an unmarked car and shipped off to a detention center in Louisiana, just as Columbia student Mahmoud Kahlil was earlier this month.

While Ozturk had co-written an op-ed in a Tufts student newspaper a year ago criticizing the university’s response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza, there is no evidence of her supporting Hamas, as Homeland Security officials claimed. One of her friends noted on X: “She does not carry a hateful bone in her body let alone being antisemitic.”

Even if she were hateful and antisemitic, a free and democratic country does not kidnap such a person and ship them 1,300 miles away without due process. A free and democratic country relies on the rule of law, respects judicial proceedings and court orders, and recognizes the sacred right of free speech.

This will get worse, which is why we all need to be prepared to escalate our public response. Too many media members are still acting as if all this is just an intensified version of the normal push and pull of American political life.

But we are in the fight of our lives for the survival of a democratic place that we called America—a place that has served as a beacon to the world that Americans have fought and died for, a place that is quickly becoming a pariah state that other nations are warning their citizens to stay away from, a country that is being torn apart by fascist leaders who are working to impoverish the masses while they further enrich the wealthiest among us.

We can take some solace in judges who are ruling against the many violations by this regime. Lawyers hired by the Venezuelan government are seeking the release of the Venezuelan migrants trapped in the Salvadoran prison.

Where are all the angry voices and actions of elected Democrats to stop this growing rejection of free speech, due process and the rule of law? Are they waiting until American-born citizens are rounded up in some prison without due process? Do they still imagine they can find a way to work with these fascists and their despotic boss?

There are exceptions who grasp the gravity and urgency of the moment. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, JB Pritzker, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Crockett and Jamie Raskin are among them. The tens of thousands joining the anti-oligarchy rallies of Sanders and AOC should tell you that the anger and hunger for change is mounting.

But let’s not doubt that this can only end if each of us refuses to turn away and instead gets involved. One important opportunity is on Saturday, April 5, when over 600 protests are planned in every state in America and globally. This is described as a national day of action organized by a growing collection of pro-democracy groups.

It may be the first street protest that you attend since Trump occupied the White House. But it can’t be the last if we want to honor all the Americans who came before us who did their part to extend our democratic experiment, fight for our Constitution, and pursue justice and equality.

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