Khalil UPDATE: This "Removal" Gambit Was Used Only Once Before -- Two Decades Ago, By DHS Sec. Ridge, Shortly After 9/11...

UPDATED @ 6 PM EDT -- Lawyers for Noem/Rubio point to three 1995 cases (i.e., three decades ago, not long after Desert Storm II), in their evening update letters, where this statute was used. In all three, Janet Reno had hard evidence of violent terroristic activity by foreign nationals on US soil. The three were actively in terror cells. None of that has even remotely been alleged here in these 2025 cases, let alone been shown by any evidence whatsoever -- other than that they showed up to student protests, or in one case, wrote a newspaper article -- or a classroom essay. All purely protected expressive activities.

Then Mr. Yaakov Roth (the lead Noem/Rubio lawyer) goes on, in a second letter -- to lecture the USDC Judge -- that (in his opinion) a sitting USDC Judge doesn't have the authority to act as a fact finder in his own court room. Mr. Roth seems only familiar with civil divorce proceedings -- this is not an argument over who gets the Bentley. . . a man is being held in a private prison in rural Louisiana. Without formal charges in any criminal court -- so he has properly filed for a writ of habeas corpus, in New Jersey -- from whence he was taken, by the Noem/Rubio forces.

Habeas is. . . called "The Great Writ" for a reason, Yaakov. You better believe a federal Judge can order fact finding, when the government ABDUCTS someone without due process -- just a man lawfully present on a NY street (months after attending a Columbia U protest), Mr. Roth. Damn.

Mr. Roth argues that all he owes is a "good faith" effort to answer the Judge -- and only so long as that effort is not allowed to impede other cases he is working on, for Tangerine. Riiiiiight. [If MAGA can't find enough lawyers willing to do its dirty work, it probably ought to stop abducting so many people, huh?!] It would all be preciously. . . hilarious -- if it hadn't meant Mr. Khalil missed the birth of his first child (while locked up in dank Louisiana). Expect blasts on all this, come Monday -- or maybe before -- from the able USDC Judge. End, update.

It goes without saying the nation (right after 9/11) was on edge under Bush/Cheney. The World Trade Centers -- once thought inviolate. . . were gone. And even so, this single "grabbing" of someone from West Africa lawfully inside our nation. . . was likely unlawful.

We've now seen it attempted three times in three months, under Rubio/Noem -- and there has been nothing like 9/11 (on our soil) -- for over a quarter century now. That alone tells the able USDC Judge that this is. . . a fever-dream / lawless power grab. Here's the government's letter in full as a PDF -- and a bit of it:

. . .Dear Judge Farbiarz:

Respondents (“the Government”) submit this response to this Court’s order (ECF No. 234). The Government refers to three instances below in which federal officials have invoked 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C) to initiate the removal of individuals from the United States. To protect privacy considerations and avoid inadvertent disclosures, the Government has anonymized the information.

1. On April 24, 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell recommended to Secretary of the Department of Homeland (“DHS”) Security Tom Ridge that the presence of an African national in the United States would have potentially adverse foreign policy consequences. Government authorities discovered evidence that the individual participated in and/or contributed to violent political activity while in Somalia. Based on this information, and in keeping with United States’ interests in promoting democracy, the rule of law, an effective governing institution in Somalia, Secretary Powell concluded that allowing this alien to reside freely in the United States would undermine the country’s foreign policy interests. Secretary Powell thus recommended that removal under 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C), and detained in the government’s custody until his removal could be effectuated to Somalia or, alternatively, a third country. . . .

The Government. . . hopes to provide an update later today.

The Government also continues to review its databases and files for any other invocations of 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C)(i) to initiate removal proceedings. If other instances of the statute’s invocation become known, the Government will inform the Court as appropriate. The Government cannot provide a firm deadline for its complete review at this time because it has not yet been able to confirm the full universe of materials that need to be reviewed in the short period of time afforded to respond to the Court’s order. . . .

Note that the evidence back then showed contributions to VIOLENCE, while IN SOMALIA. There is no such evidence here.

The other three cases are all Rubio/Noem this year. This is comparing fish. . . to bicycles, in truth. More to come at 5 pm Eastern.

And whatever one thinks of what happened IN ISRAEL (opposite side of the globe) over a year and a half ago, now. . . there has been essentially only whyte domestic terror crime, here in the USA, since then. [And even if one labels a given student protest as "antisemitic" -- there is no evidence that any of the people detained were in any manner. . . ever. . . violent. None have committed crimes.] They are entitled to due process under the plain Fifth Amendment commands.

So, the right-thinking people of this nation must agree: this is simply demonizing people as retribution, solely for opposing Trumpian autocracy. Damn. More to come, tonight by 5 pm EDT, under the able Judge's orders. Onward.

नमस्ते