US: implications of deportations to El Salvador?
The Trump administration has deported more than 200 Venezuelans suspected of belonging to a drug cartel from the US to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, citing an 18th century law designed for the event of war. Trump called US federal judge James Boasberg, who had expressly banned the measure and is now demanding explanations, a "radical left-wing lunatic".
Society will get used to authoritarianism
Tolerating attacks against immigrants is a dangerous breach of taboo, warns Helsingin Sanomat:
“The measures are clearly more aggressive than during Trump's first term, but the resistance has become weaker. This may be due to fear, but also to a change of attitude. ... Authoritarian politics that begin with a strict immigration policy do not necessarily end with the issue of migration. If people accept violations of the law and violence against immigrants, it becomes more likely that they will also tolerate them against other minorities and ultimately against the people as a whole.”
A fascist circus
Not just the deportations themselves, but also the way the US and Salvadoran leaders have presented them makes Sydsvenskan shudder:
“In a video posted on social media by [El Salvador's President Nayib] Bukele and shared by both the White House and Donald Trump, close-ups and drone footage show men being dragged from planes, having their hair and beards shaved off and being thrown into prison cells. A fascist circus set to dramatic music, heralding a new era in the US. No one is really safe anymore, it's all arbitrary. Those who voted for Trump have gotten exactly what he promised.”
Leaders who long for a new world order
It is not only the US where the trend is going towards breaking with the separation of powers and the rule of law, warns El País:
“Trump ignored the judge's order and some members of his administration even joked about it. The separation of powers no longer functions - the new US president wants to push through his goals and if he has to break the rules to do so, he will. The ways of the rule of law are slow, cumbersome and hinder his project to 'make America great again'. So into the bin they go. ... With politicians like Trump, the old values that sustained democracy are disappearing. For politicians like Viktor Orbán it confirms that the 'soft power' on which the West has always relied is nothing more than 'weakness and vulnerability instead of strength and authority'. This is what the new world order looks like.”