This cannot be waved away, as incompetence and inattention, alone.
Mr. Lyons knows his boss is Mr. Mullin. But Lyons and Miller. . . don't like the Secretary's ruling. So they instruct the AUSAs / DoJ lawyers to ignore the Secretary's orders. Crazy. Here's that, in context:
. . .The Government concedes that Costa Rica remains willing to accept Abrego Garcia and even that, if the Government forcibly removes him to Liberia, he can “make his way to Costa R[i]ca.” Opp. 45–46.
The Government nevertheless asserts that removing Abrego Garcia directly to Costa Rica would be “prejudicial to the United States” and that the Lyons Memorandum -- issued by Todd Lyons, who lacked authority to make that determination -- constitutes a “formal, final determination” that ends judicial inquiry. Opp. 28–30. Yet the Government’s opposition entirely ignores that its own Secretary of Homeland Security testified before Congress that, if Abrego Garcia is willing to go to Costa Rica, “we’ll be happy to send him.” ECF No. 180 at 2.
The Government filed its opposition three weeks after that testimony, but never even acknowledges it, much less attempts to reconcile it with the Lyons Memorandum. The Government cannot ask this Court to treat the Lyons Memorandum as dispositive while ignoring the contrary public testimony of the official in whom Congress actually vested the relevant statutory authority.
Secretary Mullin’s testimony likewise reinforces the conclusion that the Government’s continued insistence on Liberia is punitive rather than directed toward the legitimate purpose of effectuating removal. . . .
What an upside down world this is: minor paper-pushers in Trumpworld saying their authority exceeds that of his Homeland Security Secretary. Which explains why the far right rags say Mullin may be on his way to being. . . cashiered. Insane.
नमस्ते
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