Marco Rubio Personally Authorized Detention Of An Immigrant Who Criticized A Politician Trump Likes

from the pettiest-administration-ever dept

It’s absolutely irritating to be living under the thumb of an administration filled to the brim with facile subservients who think they’re the biggest and best people to ever walk the earth. It’s a bunch of boys pretending to be men, right up until they have to talk to the boss, at which point they return to their innate yes man positioning.

It’s even worse that this entire government pretends to be the biggest badasses around (DEPARTMENT OF WAR! SOCIAL MEDIA BLOODSPORT!). Everyone knows it isn’t, but everyone in this administration pretends otherwise. It’s the pettiest, weakest presidency we’ve ever endured, continually propped up by lackeys who think we’re fooled by its manliest-of-the-men facade. Even the most tentative jab will reveal the facade is mostly balsa and rice paper.

But even if this government is loaded with weak men and weak-willed men who serve/worship them, it still has a considerable amount of power. That allows it to perpetually punch down, targeting the people least likely to fight back.

This is the level of “government” this abhorrent death cruise of a presidency delivers on a daily basis: the multiplied force of the federal government being brought to bear against a single human being who dared to criticize a foreign politician. Yes! You are reading that correctly!

This isn’t even the normal pettiness directed at critics of this government. This is the administration getting all heated up because someone Trump likes (so long as they remain in their country) got besmirched by a solitary migrant seeking asylum in this country.

The Trump administration detained a Colombian immigrant this week in Phoenix after he spoke out against a Trump-endorsed candidate in his home country’s upcoming presidential election.

Franklin Humberto Coral Garrido, a progressive online activist known as Beto Coral, is a supporter of President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, a leftist who has clashed with President Trump. He has publicly criticized Abelardo De La Espriella, a right-wing candidate backed by Mr. Trump. Mr. Coral was arrested by immigration authorities on Tuesday, the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a memo determining that he was deportable from the United States.

That’s all it takes to get on Trump’s radar. And, apparently, that’s all it takes for bitch boy Rubio to fire up his MS Office Suite to compose a memo making this single person a priority for immigration officers. It’s even stupider that it first appears. Not only was Rubio prompted (most likely by his boss) to write this memo authorizing Coral’s detention, but he told his underlings this was justified entirely by Coral’s decision to utilize the rights afforded to him by the US Constitution:

“Coral Garrido has used his presence in the United States to conduct political activity in support of the Petro government” and has advocated against a candidate for president, Mr. Rubio wrote, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The New York Times.

That is not an arrestable/detainable offense! Like it or not, MAGA bigots, constitutional rights are given to US residents, even if they’re not currently citizens. There’s a very good reason for that — one that will never be fully appreciated by the MAGA faithful until they travel outside of this country and are subjected solely to local laws like cane beatings, summary executions, etc. for things that would at least get you a nominally fair trial in the US. The memo written by Rubio says things it definitely shouldn’t say, like this guy needs to be detained because he engaged in free speech.

Whether this is a leading indicator or just the tip of the ICEberg hardly matters. What does matter is that the government isn’t allowed to do this. And criticism of a foreign presidential hopeful should never form the basis for arrest or detention. Our freedom to criticize our own government is enshrined, cherished, and treated with the utmost respect (for the most part) by our court system. We — and by that I also mean any person currently residing on US soil — should be doubly free to criticize foreign governments without fear of reprisal.

But reprisal is all this government has. It can’t win hearts and minds, nor does it care to. It likes Stockholm Syndrome and the beaten dog dynamics of Trump’s relationship with his political appointees. It doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. The problem here is that the administration believes “not caring” is the same thing as “being right.” For now, though, rights still matter. Rubio’s proactive toadying doesn’t wish the Constitution into the cornfield. And if natural-born Americans think this administration won’t come after them if they displease Trump, they’re wrong. We’re only 18 months into this presidency that has already compared mild dissent to outright terrorism and insurrection. It’s not going to stop just because it’s run out of outspoken migrants to detain.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, beto coral, bigotry, dhs, free speech, ice, marco rubio, mass deportation, state department, trump administration