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Operation Aurora: Trump’s War Against Immigrants [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-20

This is it. The plan. It was always the plan. To go to war. The NO-WAR fabulist (not fabulous) President needs to fabricate a war. Trump really can’t become the first American dictator without it. So, he needs to go to war with Venezuela—kind of. Trump was obsessed with immigrants from Venezuela during his presidential campaign. According to an analysis by Axios of 109 speeches from September 1, 2023 to October 2, 2024, Trump talked about Venezuelan immigrants in 70 speeches. (Source: https://www.axios.com/2024/10/05/trump-migrants-venezuelan-congolese-rhetoric)

Why are these Venezuelan immigrants coming? Venezuela is a failed state, partly due to the 14-year presidency of Hugo Chávez, but mostly that of Nicolás Maduro, who came to power in 2013 after the death of Chávez. The collapse of oil prices drove the country into economic turmoil that is only now beginning to improve. Maduro orchestrated a corrupt election in 2018, which he lost. After so much suffering, that was the straw that broke the back of many. According to the UN Refugee Agency, more than 7.89 million people have left Venezuela since 2019. Most, 6.7 million people, have found refuge in South and Latin America, especially in “Colombia (2.8 million), Peru (1.7 million), Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador.” (Source: https://respuestavenezolanos.iom.int/en/about-regional-venezuela-situation)

Since 2021, over 700,000 Venezuelans have entered the U.S. Out of humanitarian concern, Biden offered Venezuelans entry into the U.S. using a categorical parole program that did not require a visa and as part of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program.

In the Presidential debate on September 10, 2024, Trump said, “We’ll end up being Venezuela on steroids.” (Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/harris-trump-presidential-debate-transcript/story?id=113560542) We may forget that Trump’s animus toward Venezuela goes back to his first term when Madura stole the election. You may think that Trump would have an affinity toward Madura, who is clearly a dictator, but he is a left-wing dictator, and Trump only admires right-wing dictators like Orbán and Putin. If you are like me, you may have assumed that Putin was a left-wing dictator, but he left Communism behind long ago. Though a right-wing dictator, he does support left-wing dictatorships like the ones in Cuba and Venezuela. And that is Trump’s conundrum. He loves Putin but does not want Russia exercising any influence in his sandbox—and it should be clear that he believes that South America, Central America (e.g., the Panama Canal), the Caribbean, and North America—including Canada and Greenland—are all inside his beautiful sandbox. Putin can have Ukraine with Trump’s blessings, but he needs to get out of Venezuela.

On October 12, 2024, at a rally in Coachella, California, having been in the immigrant-infested Aurora, Colorado, the previous evening, Trump said, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.” (Source: https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-rally-at-coachella) But he went on, “And we will call it Operation Aurora. That’s what we’re going to do in honor of the people that have suffered in Aurora at the hands of this horrible gang, Operation Aurora. And if they come back into our country after… We are going to throw them out so far you wouldn’t believe it. But if they come back into our country, it’s an automatic 10 years in jail with no possibility of parole, 10 years. And if that doesn’t work, it’ll be 20 years. And if that doesn’t work, I guess it’s going to be the death penalty, right? Death penalty.” (Source: https://www.rev.com/transcripts/trump-rally-at-coachella)

“Tren de Aragua” (TdA), a Venezuelan-based gang, started in 2005 among laborers on a railway project. By 2011, it had morphed into a criminal organization operating out of the Tocoron prison in the state of Aragua, Venezuela, which inmates had seized. TdA is dominant in Venezuela and has strong networks in Colombia, Chile, and Peru. It is not clear how large or organized it is in the U.S. In January 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed that TdA was operating within the United States. Subsequently, in July 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department designated the group as a “transnational criminal organization.” In addition to sanctions, the Treasury Department offered a $12 million reward for information leading to the arrest of its leaders. (Source: https://www.vox.com/politics/402921/tren-de-aragua-trump-aurora-immigration-venezuela-prison-laken-riley-jocelyn-nungaray?utm_source=chatgpt.com)

However, according to Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, a thinktank and media organization that covers organized crime in the Americas, “We have no evidence that Tren de Aragua has set up ...cells in the US, as it has been done in Colombia, Peru, and Chile.” (Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/01/tren-de-aragua-trump-organized-crime)

This isn’t to say that some TdA gang members are in the U.S. and committing violent crimes, but it is likely a much smaller and largely unorganized number than many have suggested. Still, Trump always needs a bogeyman, like the hordes of migrant caravans that were always approaching our Southern border before an election yet magically disappeared the day after. TdA is Trump’s new favorite bogeyman.

A fascinating article countering Trump’s fear-mongering is “Media Hype Set Up Tren de Aragua to Serve as Trump’s New Bogeyman” by Belén Fernández. It was published on January 25, 2025, by FAIR, a national media watch group that has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. (Source: https://fair.org/home/media-hype-set-up-tren-de-aragua-to-serve-as-trumps-new-bogeyman/) Fernández begins, “A CNN headline (6/10/24) last June menacingly warned readers about the United States’s latest dial-a-bogeyman, guaranteed to further whip up anti-immigrant vitriol in the country and justify ever more punitive border fortification: ‘This Is the Dangerous Venezuelan Gang Infiltrating the US That You Probably Know Nothing About But Should.’” He then shared their disclaimer: “The scale of its operations is unknown, but crimes attributed to alleged members of the gang have worried elected officials.”

Trump began executing “the plan” on January 20, 2025, when he issued his Presidential Action, “Designating Cartels and Other Organizations As Foreign Terrorist Organizations And Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” which warned us that “Tren de Aragua (TdA) and La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) pose similar threats to the United States. Their campaigns of violence and terror in the United States and internationally are extraordinarily violent, vicious, and similarly threaten the stability of the international order in the Western Hemisphere.” (Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/designating-cartels-and-other-organizations-as-foreign-terrorist-organizations-and-specially-designated-global-terrorists/)

On March 15, 2025 (What took him so long?), Trump released a Presidential Action with the title, “Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of The United States by Tren De Aragua.” (Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/invocation-of-the-alien-enemies-act-regarding-the-invasion-of-the-united-states-by-tren-de-aragua/)

The next day, March 16, 2025, three airplanes left Harlingen, Texas, en route to El Salvador. The number of males deported is not known specifically, and males are used because some may have been minors. The New York Times writes, “More than 260 people deported to El Salvador over the weekend included 137 people removed through the Alien Enemies Act. An additional 101 were Venezuelans deported under normal immigration proceedings, according to Trump administration officials.” (Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/us/trump-deportations-venezuela-gang.html#) As you can read, the math doesn’t math. To the likely illegality of this deportation, Trump should also be responsible for the cruel and unusual punishment that these deportees will undergo at the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot) mega-prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Why does this feel like a rendition?

James E. Boasberg, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, attempted to stop the flights. He made a verbal order followed by a written order to halt the deportations and have the flights returned to the United States. Trump and his minions willfully disobeyed the order. Since then, Boasberg has tried to obtain the details and decisions that Trump made. He is being both stonewalled and attacked. This is “The Plan,” and Trump needs to win this legal fight. Trump will escalate this constitutional crisis, likely seeking to fast-track the case to the U.S. Supreme Court using an emergency application.

Several Republican luminaries have weighed in. On Monday, March 17, 2025, Trump’s Senior White House aide, Stephen Miller (aka Mr. Hyperbole), said, “It is without doubt the most unlawful order a judge has issued in our lifetimes. A district court judge has no authority to direct the national security operations of the executive branch.” (Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/5199361-stephen-miller-trump-judge-deportation-authority/) This recalls his famous on February 12, 2017, “…the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.” (Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2019/04/twisting-stephen-millers-words/)

On Wednesday, March 19, 2025, the severe limitations of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s legal training were on display when she said, “This judge has no right to ask those questions. You have one unelected federal judge trying to control foreign policies, trying to control the Alien Enemies Act, which they have no business presiding over... The judge had no business, no power to do what he did,” unless, of course, she was just lying. (Source: https://bsky.app/profile/hugolowell.bsky.social/post/3lkqyu6dn522h) The Attorney General of the U.S. acts like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sad.

And then there is Border Czar Tom Homan speaking about Judge Boasberg saying, “We are going to make this country safe again ... I’m proud to be a part of this administration. We are not stopping. I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the Left thinks. We’re coming.” (Source: https://www.axios.com/2025/03/17/tom-homan-deportation-flights-trump-court-order)

Finally, Trump joined this illegal defiance on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, saying, “This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” (Source: https://time.com/7269156/trump-judge-boasberg-impeach/) In lockstep with “Dear Leader,” Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced a resolution on the same day to impeach Boasberg, charging he “has abused the powers of his judicial authority, having engaged in actions that prioritize political gain over the duty of impartiality owed to the public and litigants.” Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/mar/19/president-donald-trump-called-for-a-judges-impeach/) Gill ignored Chief Justice John Roberts' admonition, “For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.” (Source: ibid) Oh, Johnny, you are a day late and a dollar short—woefully inadequate. After all, you helped create this monster.

Later in the day, Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, “Many people have called for his impeachment, the impeachment of this judge. I don’t know who the judge is, but he’s radical left.” (Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-insults-federal-judge-amid-legal-battle-deportation/story?id=119909983) So obviously, this is okay with Roberts if others said it, just not Trump. His “I-heard-others-say” go-to trope is so tired and lame.

The problem with his 1798 Alien Enemies Act gambit is that we are not at war with Venezuela. Tren de Aragua gang members have not invaded us. The only invasion is in the mind of Donald J. Trump, but that is inadmissible in court. Still, this may well be the case over which Trump will defy the court because he needs war powers to advance his dictatorial agenda.

Trump’s continued reliance on manufactured threats to justify authoritarian actions underscores a dangerous trajectory. Operation Aurora is not merely a crackdown on criminal organizations—it is a broad and aggressive policy aimed at reshaping immigration under the guise of national security. As legal battles intensify, will we allow our democratic principles to erode under the weight of fear-mongering and political opportunism?

Time left to January 20, 2029: 1,402 days

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/20/2311457/-Operation-Aurora-Trump-s-War-Against-Immigrants?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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