A reversal of constitutional protocol
A reversal of constitutional protocol
- Sat, Jul 19 2025 at 8:00 AM
July 19, 2025
ABUSING POWER AND RIGHTS
ICE does not have the authority to overrule the Constitution
In a reversal of established legal protocol and in complete disregard for due process rights, the Trump administration is attempting to deny bond hearings from millions of undocumented immigrants, including the tens of thousands of people who are currently in ICE detention, by claiming they are ineligible. A leaked memo declares that immigrants without legal status should be detained by ICE for the duration of their removal proceedings, which can last months or even years. We know what conditions are like in ICE detention centers. This directive could force millions of people into unsafe, unsanitary, and inhumane conditions while completely hindering their ability to exercise their due process rights. Congress must do everything it can to stop this.
- “ICE is already detaining a record number of people in conditions that most experts that I’ve heard from say are the worst they’ve ever witnessed. This will make things even worse by expanding the number of people subject to ‘mandatory detention’ by including people never convicted of a crime, who may have lived in the United States for decades and who have U.S. citizen spouses and children,” POGO’s Katherine Hawkins told Newsweek.
- Congress signed off on more and worse abuses. The billions in additional funding approved for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the recently passed reconciliation bill will give the unaccountable agency license to further expand and fuel its operations.
- The courts can and must intervene. In California, a federal judge has blocked the administration from racial profiling and denying detainees access to legal counsel.
- INVESTIGATION DHS’s Secret Reports on ICE Detention: Records confirm abuses, medical and mental health care failures, and extensive use of solitary confinement at ICE detention centers across the nation, write POGO’s Nick Schwellenbach and Freddy Martinez.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
Celebrating progress in the NDAA
(Illustration: Ren Velez / POGO)
If you follow our email updates, you know that breakthrough military right-to-repair provisions and Nunn-McCurdy Act reforms made it into the House’s version of the annual defense policy bill (National Defense Authorization Act), following a sustained effort from POGO and advocates like you. We can bring accountability to the Pentagon and end the egregious waste of taxpayer dollars, but we must keep pushing to get these provisions over the finish line.
- What happens next: In the next few weeks, the NDAA will head to the House and Senate floors. This will be another opportunity for us to push for the passage of the reforms introduced in the mark-up process.
- What you can do now: Keep the momentum going by urging Congress to keep these provisions in the final version of the NDAA. Email your representatives now.
- Right-to-repair, simply put: “Just in case it’s illustrative ... picture Captain Kirk calling down to engineering to ask Scotty how quickly he’s going to repair something. Now keep imagining if Scotty’s answer was: ‘Well it will take three weeks for the contractor to get here at Warp 4. Until then, we can’t touch it.’” — POGO’s Greg Williams in Task & Purpose
More impact from our work:
After POGO’s bombshell investigation into “appalling” barracks conditions at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam gained national attention, the Pentagon announced a $300 million contract to rebuild and replace housing at the base. Read more about the impact of our investigation in Task & Purpose.
Your support powers these investigations. Inspire change for a more accountable and effective federal government by donating to POGO today.GUTTING THE GOVERNMENT
These protections keep the civil service from becoming a spoils system
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled to temporarily allow the Trump administration to blaze forward with their mass firings of federal workers — and the administration is already moving with conviction to dismantle the nonpartisan civil service. Just a few days later, the Justice Department fired more than 20 career civil servants, including a senior ethics attorney, in a targeted removal of perceived political opponents and for seemingly no cause other than to clear the way for loyalists — a blatant violation of established civil service protections.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to advance the nomination of Emil Bove to a lifelong post as a federal judge. Bove, a senior DOJ official, allegedly advised DOJ staff to ignore court orders and lie to judges, according to a recent whistleblower disclosure. We’re disappointed the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Bove’s judicial nomination without fully investigating the serious and credible claims that he disregarded the rule of law.
- ANALYSIS Behind the New Rule That’s the Latest Attack on Public Servants: When the administration has free range to oust employees for political reasons under the auspices of “suitability” for government service, those most at risk of harm are not the employees themselves but people across this country, writes POGO’s Joe Spielberger.
Comments
Post a Comment