Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, previously infamous for shooting her own puppy, is now the willing face of authoritarian cruelty. In a grotesque display of propaganda, Noem posted a video of herself in front of a cage full of kidnapped Venezuelan immigrants. Wearing a ball cap and a Rolex watch, she proudly narrated what amounts to a massive violation of due process and international human rights.
These individuals weren’t charged with crimes. They weren’t given hearings. Many weren’t even gang-affiliated. Some were lawfully present asylum seekers, like a gay Venezuelan hairdresser fleeing persecution or a soccer player with a Real Madrid tattoo, both of whom were rounded up simply for being Venezuelan.
This wasn’t a lawful deportation. It was extraordinary rendition, authorized under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime statute used only three times in U.S. history (1812, WWI, WWII). Trump declared a fictional "hybrid war" with Venezuela and claimed the Tren de Aragua gang constituted an invasion. That pretext allowed him to strip hundreds of Venezuelans of all legal rights and secretly deport them to El Salvador’s most brutal prison—without trial, without defense, without even being told where they were going.
When federal Judge James Boasberg, a respected jurist and former chief of the FISA court, blocked these deportations and demanded the government return the planes, the Trump administration defied the order. Instead of complying, they invoked one of the most powerful legal shields in existence: the State Secrets Privilege.
This privilege is meant to prevent grave harm to national security, not to hide evidence of wrongful imprisonment, human trafficking, and state-sponsored abuse. It’s been invoked fewer than 100 times in 75 years. And yet the Trump regime is using it to refuse even the judge's request for basic information: who was deported, when, and why. Information already partially public. Information Judge Boasberg needs to determine if the government violated his lawful order.
It's not about national security, it’s about covering up mistakes, or worse, crimes.
The ACLU has since revealed that:
Women were sent to male-only prisons.
People were coerced into signing false gang confessions.
Some were lied to about their destination.
At least a few had pending asylum cases and legal protections.
Boasberg has asked the ACLU to respond by March 31, but meanwhile, the Trump administration continues to posture and deflect, hiding behind a veil of secrecy.
And then comes Kristi Noem, stepping in front of this humanitarian disaster with a smirk, a Rolex, and a camera crew. She proudly showcases people who have been denied their rights, locked in cages with barely room to move, and potentially disappeared forever in a foreign prison. All while knowing full well that some of these individuals never belonged there in the first place.
This is dystopian. This is lawless. This is a regime that says: “We can declare war whenever we want, suspend due process, and then silence the courts with the word secret.”
It’s not national security. It’s state-sponsored kidnapping under the guise of executive power.
And when judges like Boasberg push back, Trump and his allies call for their impeachment because the rule of law, to them, is just another obstacle to power.
We used to say it’s better for a thousand guilty people to go free than for one innocent to be wrongfully imprisoned. Now, this regime says: "No trial. No hearing. No accountability. And if you ask questions we’ll just say it's a secret."
If that doesn’t terrify you, it should.
#ACLU #judgeboasberg #KristiNoem #venezuela