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THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Sotomayor’s Harsh Dissent on Trump Arrests Offers a Terrifying Warning

THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

The New Republic

News, Politics

4.4800 Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2025

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The fate of dozens of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador remains in doubt. So does the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who administration officials admit was removed in error, even as they refuse to return him to the United States. The Supreme Court just issued rulings on these cases, putting a hold on a lower court’s order to reverse Abrego Garcia’s removal, and allowing the deportations of Venezuelans to resume for now. In that second one, Sonia Sotomayor issued a powerful dissent, and buried in it is an alarming warning. We talked to American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, who expertly demystifies these rulings for us—and explains how Sotomayor laid bare the alarming stakes we face at this fraught moment. Looking for More from the DSR Network? Click Here: https://linktr.ee/deepstateradio Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Daily Blast from the New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network.

0:16.5

I'm your host, Greg Sargent.

0:31.5

The fate of dozens of Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration to a maximum security prison in El Salvador remains in doubt.

0:35.4

So does the fate of Kilmar Abrago-Garcia, who administration officials admit

0:40.4

was removed in error, even as they refused to bring them back to the United States.

0:46.0

The Supreme Court issued rulings on these cases this week, putting a hold on a lower court's

0:51.7

order to reverse the removal of Abrago-Garcia

0:54.4

and allowing the deportations of Venezuelans to resume for now.

0:59.6

In that second one, Sonia Sotomayor issued a powerful dissent,

1:04.1

and buried in it is caused for real alarm,

1:06.7

because it signals a way in which these horrors might get much worse.

1:10.9

Today we're talking about all of this to one of the best out there at demystifying this kind of thing,

1:16.2

American Immigration Council Senior Fellow Aaron Reiklin Melnick.

1:20.1

Aaron, thanks for coming on, man.

1:22.1

Thank you for having me.

1:23.7

So the Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that had stopped Trump's deportations of

1:29.3

Venezuelans, which he had undertaken pursuant to the Alien Enemy's Act of 1798.

1:35.3

Dozens of them had been removed without any due process, and the administration has failed to

1:40.1

show that a number of them are even members of the Trend de Aragua gang, as it alleged.

1:46.3

Now, Aaron, the court did say that all nine of the justices agree that these migrants deserve

1:51.9

due process. The only question is which court at Hadanson. Can you sum up where we are on this?

1:58.4

Yeah, so this case made it to the Supreme Court with the Trump administration arguing

...

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