A former Republican strategist laid into Attorney General Pam Bondi on MSNBC over the recent arrests of public officials accused of interfering or trespassing on the property of federal immigration officials, most recently the prosecution of Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, after he joined a protest at a private detention facility being used by ICE.
"Since Trump took office, ICE agents have arrested several people inside the Milwaukee county courthouse, according to the FBI affidavit," said anchor Chris Jansing. "But local leaders have pushed back against these ICE arrests at local courthouses, saying it discourages people from showing up for hearings for reporting crimes. Does this kind of blurring of the lines between the court and ICE arrests help or hurt Republicans?"
"Well, I think that ultimately, when you start to blur the lines, any time the question of due process is put in the middle here, it's not helpful," said Tara Setmayer, a frequent critic of the president. "This is not the way our system was designed. This is not the way it's supposed to work in a democracy. And this chilling effect that it will have is something that every American should be concerned about."
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The Trump administration may believe, with some evidence, the American public supports them in the abstract on deporting unauthorized immigrants, Setmayer continued, but "most people agree that you're entitled to due process."
"That's what our Constitution says. So it's starting with what they're doing here in the courts now. They're arresting judges, and now they're arresting mayors," she said.
Indeed, Setmayer continued, they're even threatening to arrest members of Congress who investigate ICE facilities, which "is a red line and unconstitutional."
"What we also need to find out, and need to be shining a light on, is the reason why they're doing this, is to mask the conflicts of interest that are going on inside this administration," Setmayer said. "Pam Bondi is so conflicted here, and this is coming down from the Department of Justice ... Pam Bondi represented the company, the private prison company that is running Delaney Hall, which is the place where this took place in Newark. That company was just awarded a billion-dollar, 15-year contract to run that detention facility. This is out of bounds. She was their lobbyist. You're telling me that's not a conflict of interest?"
"Every single Democrat" needs to be out there telling this story, she added. They're violating the Constitution. They're going after members of Congress and judges to give a chilling effect, which is very authoritarian in nature. Meanwhile, the conflicts of interest for people like Pam Bondi and Donald Trump and all of their billionaire oligarchs, and there they are, enriching themselves at the expense of the American people and our Constitution."
The members of Congress being threatened by the Justice Department now, she concluded, "didn't break the law. They were there to defend the rule of law. And that's what the message should be, every single day."
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