43. Mass “Deportation” Is the End of Constitutional Government

Since early March, the Trumpist assault on the rule of law and the constitutional order has been most visible in the radicalizing attempt to purge the nation from anyone this regime deems unwelcome or “undesirable.” Foreign students who are labeled a threat to American foreign policy, Venezuelan migrants who are declared foreign “invaders,” innocent people like Kilmar Abrego Garcia who are treated as “terrorists.” Every day brings new horror stories of the Trump administration’s complete disregard for the fundamental rights of people who live in the United States, of the gleeful cruelty with which the government is destroying their lives. What is happening to these people isn’t adequately described as “deportation”: The U.S. government strips them of all rights and imprisons them in a brutal labor camp in a foreign country. A regime that so aggressively curtails and ignores fundamental rights for one group today will not hesitate to violate and suspend them for others tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. It’s never far from “illegal aliens” and “alien enemies” to “the enemy within.” We talk about how all these cases are connected, about the role of the courts and what to make of the Supreme Court’s interventions, about the response from Democrats and the American public. And we discuss why this constitutes such an acute threat to constitutional government – a threat to the very survival of the Republic. To what extent is the constitutional order still in effect? If we must ask, we are fully in a crisis situation; once we don’t have to ask anymore, the constitutional order will have already been overthrown.

Show notes:

“He Was Deported by Administrative Error. We Talked to His Lawyer,” Amicus Podcast, April 5 https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2025/04/trump-tariffs-are-they-legal

Mark Joseph Stern, “The Crisis Over Trump’s Salvadoran Gulag Has Reached a Terrifying Breaking Point,” Slate, April 14 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/04/trump-defying-supreme-court-el-salvador-bukele.html

Trump v J.G.G, 5-4 Podcast, April 15 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-v-j-g-g/id1497785843?i=1000703569102

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, “In Kilmar Abrego Garcia Case, Trump Administration Escalates Its War on Due Process,” Immigration Impact, April 16 https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/04/16/kilmar-abrego-garcia-case-trump-due-process/

Chris Geidner, “Supreme Court blocks some Alien Enemies Act removals in Texas-based case,” Law Dork, April 19 https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-aea-april-late-night-order

Follow Lily

Follow Thomas

Follow the podcast on social media

Read Thomas’ weekly newsletter Democracy Americana