Opinion : Letter to the Editor: The Trump Report 03/23/25

Dear Editor,

Did you know the United States is at war with Venezuela? No, I did not either but according to the Trump Administration under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, the administration has the authority to round up anyone from Venezuela that they deem illegal in the U.S. who they think are members of a violent gang and ship them to El Salvador because Trump has concocted a war with Venezuela.

The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is designed for our government to be able to deport or incarcerate people without due process who have been identified as enemy combatants in the time of war. It has only been used three times in the past and all during actual war time including the War of 1812, WWI, WWII with the internment of Japanese/Americans.

Here’s the problem. We are not in war with Venezuela. A list of detainees was finally released with scant information. Those deported did not have due process to determine if indeed they were illegal gang members, no legal representation and no official charges. If you looked like a Venezuelan, you could be swept up in the effort and given no opportunity to make your case.

One such case is Venezuelan professional soccer player, Jerce Reyes-Barrio who is in the country legally as a refugee escaping torture from the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Reyes-Barrio does not have a criminal record and was rounded up because he has a tattoo of a local soccer team that was mistakenly viewed as a tattoo of the gang Homeland Security was looking for. His head was shaved, man-handled and sent on plane to El Salvador. His lawyer was not aware that he was picked up until he failed to attend an immigration hearing Monday. The Trump administration refuses to address this injustice. https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/ice-deported-a-venezuelan-soccer-star-who-was-tortured-by-maduro-s-regime/ar-AA1BkbdH?ocid=BingNewsSerp

Isn’t providing a refuge for a young person escaping torture from another country exactly what our supposed Christian country stands for? How many others now in this extreme prison was in the United States legally, not a criminal, and were swept up in this injustice? That is what dictators do, not what I ever thought our country would do.

No matter your political party we should all unequivocally say if a Venezuelan is found guilty in a court of law of entering the U.S. illegally and is a member of a violent gang that person should be deported forthwith. The key here is due process was not followed.

The right likes to demonize anyone who publicly stands up for the rule of law as someone who wants gang members terrorizing our country. A person can both want to stop violent crime and punish those perpetrating those crimes and demand that our country follow due process and the rule of law. It is the Trump administration that is stomping on our constitution using Musk’s chain-saw to our constitution and the rule of law.

I know everyone has heard of the poem “First They Came”, Pastor Martin Niemoller in regards to public apathy during WWII. Here is the website but the point is if we as a society do not speak out about injustice, who will be there to protect us if the need arises. Could you be next? https://www.bing.com/search?q=first+they+came+poem&qs=LS&pq=first+they&sc=12-10&cvid=A8D7D3643D93

For your reference: https://legalclarity.org/what-is-the-simple-definition-of-due-process-of-law/#google_vignette https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/alien-enemies-act-explained

Tales of the Trump Administration

I will end my articles with this segment that continues to show the ineptness of the Trump Administration.

1. Trump announced that as President he was going to release the secured files from the JFK assassination. Thinking that there might be something in those files that would indicate some sort of “deep state” cover-up, Trump ordered those files to be unredacted.

Not understanding why the document was redacted, Trump’s unredacted files included the names, addresses and social security numbers of those who worked on the files or were witnesses etc. Many of these people are still alive and their personal information is now in the public. The administration is now trying to re-redact what should not have happened if Trump had any idea what he is doing. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-moves-to-mitigate-release-of-social-security-numbers-in-jfk-files/ar https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/released-jfk-files-reveal-social-security-numbers-of-former-staffers/ar-AA1B

2. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick just proved how totally out of touch he his. On Friday, he stated; “Only a "fraudster" would care if they miss a Social Security check, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a new interview this week.” https://www.newsweek.com/howard-lutnick-social-security-real-america-2048911

Keep in mind that Lutnick is one of Trump’s billionaires setting policy for us regular folks and was one of the authors of Project 2025.

I keep trying not to make these articles long but Trump keeps adding more ridiculousness that needs to be reported.

3. In case you are not aware, Trump has been in a fight with the judicial system concerning his use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to determine whether the action meets constitutional muster. The DOJ is not playing nice and refuses to release any information that the orders from the court were followed. Earlier in the week Trump admitted he sign the declaration of war. On Friday, March 21st Trump made the situation worse by telling the press he had not signed the proclamation of war after even his press secretary confirmed that he indeed signed it.

But wait it gets worse, on Saturday, Steven Chueng of Trump’s communication department, in an attempt to clean up Trump’s denial, now state that Trump was actually talking about signing the act in 1798. Come-on what they won’t do to spin Trump’s mouth. No one on this planet would even think that it was possible that he had signed the original document in 1798. Trump was cornered by the press and did what he always does, lie.

Another example that Trump believes that he answers to no one. And Trump supporters wonder why the rest of us are concerned about these actions. https://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/trump-says-he-didn-t-sign-proclamation-invoking-alien-enemies-act/article_71d3877a-dee1-57da-8d5e-93522

Rosemary Schwartz