This Week in Democracy – Week 56: Prosecuting Democrats, Deporting Migrants, and... Taking Bribes?
Zeteo's weekly round-up, documenting the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 56.’ Where do we even begin?!
It was a week full of presidential tantrums: Donald Trump called American freeski Olympian Hunter Hess “a real Loser” for saying he had “mixed emotions” about representing the US. The president then called Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl appearance – an epic and historic show by an American about the unity of the Americas – an “affront to the Greatness of America.”
Later in the week, we were treated to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s finger-wagging, screaming, and unhinged accusations, as she testified about the Epstein files before the House Judiciary Committee.
Speaking of which, there were so many terrifying things revealed about the DOJ’s handling of the files this week – clearly unnecessary redactions, mishandling of victims’ names, the “burn book” of Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s search history of the unredacted files that Bondi brought with her to the hearing – that we don’t have space to document them all in ‘This Week in Democracy.’
So instead, below, we chose to focus on the worrying actions Trump and his cronies took that you may have missed amid the president’s tantrums and the Epstein revelations.
From a new Trump pay-to-play scheme to the House passage of an election overhaul bill to the administration’s latest assault on immigrants, here’s just a small taste of what the president and his allies did this week that harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt free societies worldwide:
Saturday, Feb. 7 – Patel Blocks ICE Killing Probe
The New York Times reported that senior FBI officials, including Director Kash Patel, ordered agents to stop carrying out a warrant to search the vehicle of Renee Good, as part of what would typically be a standard civil rights investigation into the use of force, days after the 37-year-old mother was killed by an ICE agent as she pulled away in her vehicle.
Patel and other officials were concerned that such an investigation would crumble Trump’s narrative that Good “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over” the agent, which was disputed by footage of the incident, the Times reported, citing several unnamed sources.
Sunday, Feb. 8 – Only Costs $1 Million to See Trump
In what appears to be the latest pay-to-play scheme involving the president, Trump’s allies involved with an organization assisting the White House in planning celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday are offering access to Trump and other perks to donors who cough up at least $1 million.
The solicitations are being made by Freedom 250, which claims that those who donate $1 million or more will receive an invitation to a private “thank you reception” hosted by Trump. Meanwhile, a contribution of at least $2.5 million will secure donors a speaking role at an event in DC on July 4.
A spokesperson for Freedom 250 laughably told the Times that Trump “can’t be bought by anyone.”
Monday, Feb. 9 – Way Beyond the ‘Worst of the Worst’
The Trump administration loves to tout that its mass immigration crackdown targets the “worst of the worst,” but CBS News reports that less than 14% of the nearly 400,000 immigrants ICE arrested during the first year of Trump’s second term had been charged or convicted of violent criminal offenses.
Less than 2% of people arrested by ICE during that time period had been the subject of charges or convictions related to homicides or sexual assaults, with just another 2% accused of being gang members.
A total of 40% of those arrested had no criminal record at all, and had only been accused of civil immigration offenses, like overstaying their visas or being undocumented.
One immigrant without a criminal record who ICE arrested was Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk, whose lawyers revealed separately on Monday that an immigration court terminated removal proceedings against her last month after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet its burden of proving removability.
Tuesday, Feb. 10 - Flashing ‘Master Alarm’
In another blow to Trump’s efforts to go after his perceived enemies, a grand jury rejected an effort by his administration to indict six Democratic lawmakers over their involvement in a viral video urging members of the military to refuse illegal orders. NBC News reported that not a single grand juror found that the Justice Department met the probable cause threshold in the case.
While the rejection of the Trump administration’s persecution of the lawmakers is a win, the fact that it happened at all represents a nearly unprecedented threat to Constitutional rights under the First Amendment.
“This is not a ‘good news’ story,” Senator Mark Kelly, one of the six lawmakers who faced a possible indictment, told reporters. “This is the master alarm flashing for our democracy.”
Wednesday, Feb. 11 – House Passes Terrifying Election Bill
As part of Trump’s bid to overhaul elections in the US, the Republican-controlled House passed legislation that would disenfranchise millions of Americans.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act would require proof of citizenship, like passports and birth certificates, for voters to cast their ballot in elections. But, as the Center for American Progress notes, about half of Americans don’t have a valid passport, and 69 million women in the US wouldn’t be able to use a birth certificate to prove their citizenship because they changed their last name when they got married.
The bill, which would also eliminate mail-only registration, require photo ID in every state, and make it mandatory for states to conduct voter roll purges every 30 days, now moves to the Senate.
Thankfully, it faces an uphill battle there.
Thursday, Feb. 12 – Judge Rebukes Trump
A federal judge admonished the Trump administration for effectively blocking ICE detainees in Minnesota from accessing their attorneys.
“It appears that in planning for Operation Metro Surge, the government failed to plan for the constitutional rights of its civil detainees,” the ruling reads. “The government suggests – with minimal explanation and even less evidence – that doing so would result in ‘chaos.’”
“The Constitution does not permit the government to arrest thousands of individuals and then disregard their constitutional rights because it would be too challenging to honor those rights.”
Friday, Feb. 13 – Another Assault on Migrants
In the latest front of her war on Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department will terminate TPS for Yemen, leaving Yemenis with the status 60 days to leave the country or risk being arrested and deported.
Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:
