‘Cruelty’: WSJ editors rip Trump for fighting to keep ‘man falsely expelled in a hellhole’
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board laid into the Trump administration again Monday night as it actively fights against efforts to return a wrongfully deported man from a notoriously brutal Salvadoran prison to the United States.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland was mistakenly sent to a mega-prison last month, and the Trump administration acknowledged his deportation was due to an "administrative error."
Garcia was deported on March 15, even though an immigration judge in 2019 barred his removal due to risks of persecution and torture by gangs. But the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 to mass deport alleged gang members, including Garcia, even though no evidence has emerged tying him to criminal activities.
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The administration has said Garcia is no longer under the United States' jurisdiction since he is detained by Salvadoran authorities.
And the Journal editors weren't having it, writing that the Trump Administration is fighting to "keep a man falsely expelled in a Salvadoran hellhole."
"The Trump Administration’s never-back-down style is becoming a governance problem with overtones of cruelty," the editorial said.
The administration said in its filing that the Constitution "charges the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the Nation against foreign terrorists." Solicitor General John Sauer, meanwhile, said the judge's ruling dictated to the U.S. “that it must not only negotiate with a foreign country to return an enemy alien on foreign soil, but also succeed by 11:59 p.m. tonight." That could, said Sauer, set a terrible precedent of “district court diplomacy.”
"Not quite," the Journal retorted, pointing to another judge's rationale for denying the Trump administration's demand for a pause, which noted the facts of the case "present the potential for a disturbing loophole: namely that the government could whisk individuals to foreign prisons in violation of court orders and then contend, invoking its Article II powers, that it is no longer their custodian, and there is nothing that can be done.”
That, the judge said, is a path to “perfect lawlessness.”
"The Trump Administration hates to admit an error, but its obstinance here serves no purpose. Mistakes happen. Why not ask the Salvadoran government to send Mr. Abrego Garcia back to unite with his family?" the Journal concluded.
GOP senator snaps at ‘mistaken’ Trump as Todd Blanche turmoil heats up
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) fired back at President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying opposition to his IRS tax settlement runs far deeper than just two senators.
At 11:15 AM, Trump wrote on Truth Social that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was "a STAR" with the potential to be "one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time."
He blamed Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — "both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action" — for blocking the confirmation.
Just seven minutes after Trump backed down, Cornyn rubbed salt in the wound by responding to Trump on X.
"POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis," Cornyn wrote on X.
The standoff forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to scrap a scheduled Thursday vote on Blanche's nomination, a setback for one of Trump's top Cabinet picks, MS NOW reported.
"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote on Truth Social, threatening to pull the nomination entirely and resubmit it once both senators leave office.
Earlier Wednesday, before Trump's post, Cornyn and Tillis had told Politico that someone inside the White House — not Trump himself — was blocking a deal.
"I don't know who it is — I'm just trying to get them out of the way so we can get the president his AG," Tillis said.
"If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but, apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House," Cornyn said, adding that he did not know who was responsible. "I don't know who, but it doesn't need to be this hard."
"Why don't you call over the DOJ and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for," Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon, as negotiations with the Department of Justice dragged on, MS NOW reported.
"What I've advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we're not prepared to vote yes yet," Tillis said Wednesday night, confirming neither senator had moved.
