The Sunday Ops Report

The Alien Enemies Act; Drone diplomacy in Ukraine; Here comes the Karen Read case; A friend of The Ops Desk makes an even bigger friend

So right now, the battle is raging over the deportation of hundreds of alleged members of the notorious Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA).

President Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 as the means; the ACLU and a group called Democracy Forward, whose Chairman is Democrat legal attack dog Marc Elias, have joined in a D.C. lawsuit to oppose this on due process grounds.

To add further intrigue, The New York Times has published a leaked intelligence report, in which analysts concluded with “moderate confidence” that TdA was not operating under the auspices of the Venezuelan government — a key component of the Trump administration’s justification for the deportations.

A criminal leak investigation has been announced; the Obama-appointed judge in D.C. feels disrespected and is clearly no fan of the current DOJ; and DOJ is continuing to round up alleged TdA members in preparation for further deportations.

Where is all this going?

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Let’s first put things on a legal footing: the Trump administration’s current strategy here undeniably faces some legal hurdles.

Adhering to the maxim, “the worst, first,” the administration has chosen not to use the usual immigration statutes to expel these alleged gang-bangers — presumably, because that would take time and extensive process. Not unfounded; there are more than enough law firms willing to step up and work pro bono to keep killers and rapists in our country, so as to justify the “Resist!” bumperstickers on their Priuses.

(Tren de Aragua members taking over an apartment complex in Aurora, CO)

The problem, then, is with the administration’s decision to instead use the Alien Enemies Act (AEA).

Here is the operative language for when that statute can be invoked by the President:

Whenever there is a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, OR any invasion or predatory incursion is perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States by any foreign nation or government (emphasis mine).

Now, sometimes in law little things mean a great deal, and we have that here: the use of the word, “or” that I bolded in the statute’s second line.

Looking at the first clause of the above, there is little doubt that we are not in a “declared” war with Venezuela. So Trump can’t use that.

He therefore has to rely on the second clause: “any invasion or predatory incursion.. by any foreign nation or government.” Does he have that?

Therein the controversy. It is no accident that the “invasion or predatory incursion” language is exactly what Trump used in issuing his Executive Order to begin the TdA deportations; the administration lawyers are well-aware of this key “or” I cite above. But the question then arises: is TdA in fact operating under the auspices of the Venezuelan government?

This is why the leak informing the recent New York Times’ story is so relevant — because that leak has the administration undercutting its own logic for using the AEA by saying “with moderate confidence” that TdA is in fact not operating under the Venezuelan government’s auspices.

Now, to be clear: the administration is hitting back, saying that the report and the leak are the result of “Deep State” operatives. And before anyone rolls their eyes at that contention, let’s recall that Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, and others conjured the entire Crossfire Hurricane story out of thin air, and that 51 of what were supposed to be our leading intelligence officials told us a laptop that FBI investigators had already validated was in fact a Russian operation.

The second problem the administration faces in getting past Judge Boasberg is the issue of whether or not the deportees ARE in fact TdA members. Can the President simply say any Venezuelan is? And if not, what is the metric? The tattoos? Affiliations? After all, we are not dealing with a group that issues membership cards.

Further, because the Biden administration’s DOJ and ICE policies were so willfully blithe, the intel necessary to prove many of these gang-bangers are indeed TdA is likely non-existent (a similar conundrum to what DOJ faces in the Mahmoud Khalil case).

Now, before anyone accuses me of piling on against the Trump administration’s efforts here, let me be clear: they are attempting extraordinary action in response to extraordinary circumstances. The Biden administration’s treasonous decision to admit millions of unvetted migrants into our country created this calamity.

According to the Biden administration’s own numbers, roughly 770,000 Venezuelans were encountered at our southern border (not including the “gotaways” that had no border friction whatsoever). Together with the notorious CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela) “expedited parole” program, the total number of unvetted Venezuelans admitted to the country is certainly north of a million — if not more.

And if even one-percent of this million is a hardened criminal — a percentage, by the way, well-south of estimates of the criminal element embedded in the similarly unvetted Mariel boatlift of the 1980’s— then we’ve just gained 10,000 new members of the criminal class.

So there is a practical point here that few seem willing to consider as the legal points are debated: the sum total of all federal arrests leading to prosecution has been below 80,000 for years now.

Meaning: in order to ascertain that Venezuelan criminals are indeed among “the worst” — i.e, TdA members — at the least, one-in-eight federal cases going forward would be an inquiry into the accused TdA status. Major portions of federal law enforcement operations would have to essentially cease.

Further, let’s not forget that the President has also designated the Mexican cartels as terror groups. In light of Trump’s fractious relationship with the current Mexican leadership, leveling the accusation that cartels like Sinaloa are operating in tandem with Mexican government elements feels like it’s coming (to be clear: they likely are, if history is any judge).

Our investigators and courts are simply not equipped to handle the load any of these scenarios presents. So as the Trump administration has stated, we do, indeed, have a crisis.

So what’s to be done?

Here’s What’s Coming

One need not be a law school graduate or Nostradamus to see what’s coming next.

First, Judge Boasberg will not be impeached. Second, DOJ will lose in his court and appeal. Third, all this will end up with SCOTUS, which will deliberate against the backdrop of the tensions between Trump and Chief Justice Roberts.

What a case this could end up being! Not only will the above issues be in-play, but so too could the ability of a district court judge to issue a nationwide injunction — an issue that has continued to arise in recent weeks. History.

But what could short-circuit some of this would be the branch of government we’ve been ignoring: Congress. Should the Trump administration leverage their slim majorities there, it is possible that a bill addressing some of these issues could be crafted. In light of the likely political fallout from appearing to side with gang-bangers, it is even possible some Democrats could get aboard.

This is a narrow and complex path, and one that is asking a lot of a new Congress that hasn’t fully gotten its legs under it yet (we’re still awaiting “The Big Beautiful Bill”).

But even an attempt to pass a law that would address the Biden era’s malfeasance would likely help the Trump administration’s case in the eyes of the courts.

So fight Boasberg in his court, take the case up the chain to SCOTUS — but proceed on a parallel track to craft a bill in Congress that would, at the least, provide some metrics for constitutionally applying the AEA here.

And don’t stop locking these perps up. Somehow or other, we’ve got to get them out.

After all — it’s what the country voted for.

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Um, How Will Vlad Feel About This?

So as Putin ignores calls for a genuine ceasefire — is the Trump administration busy trying to futher embed U.S. interests in Ukraine?

Seems so. We’ve all heard about the minerals deal that the President sought in his meeting with Zelensky last month. Now comes this report, detailing the administration’s desire to take over control and administration of Ukraine’s nuclear facilities (note that this would include Chernobyl) (and potentially even the one in Zaporizhzhia, currently under Russian control).

But a reader also sends this: the Defense Innovation Unit, an R&D element within the U.S. military, has picked four outfits to test so-called “one way” single-use drones (in other words, kamikaze drones that carry a bomb).

And two of those outfits? Yup — Ukrainian. Both of which will “partner” with a U.S. software firm.

(Defense Innovation Unit image)

I wonder how this will go over in Moscow, when we start “testing” these things in Donetsk….

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Starting Soon: The Karen Read Case

So upcoming in either a week or three weeks — depending on what the judge decides — we’ll see the start of the (televised) Karen Read murder trial.

Not too many cases have drawn the sort of stark divisions this case has. Passions are high on both sides — meaning the facts are often ignored.

But not here. So join us over on the podcast for a discussion with John DePetro, radio host and host of Rhode Patrol Live, where he covers all things crime-related up in New England.

I thought I knew this case. Not compared to this guy.

John has attended the trial, examined the evidence, and has even talked to some of the players. Short of the attorneys involved, nobody out there knows this case better — and can articulate it more clearly.

It’s a factual look at the evidence against Read. Does her timeline hold up? What lies was she caught in? Do they matter?

And what can we expect when her trial — which will be televised — begins?

One thing we can say: according to John, things will be very different this time around….

Click on the below for a preview… and HERE to see the full thing.

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Friends In High Places

Congrats to Sam E. Antar, who yours truly interviewed here regarding his findings related to New York State Attorney General/unhinged Trump antagonist Letitia James.

Looks like Sam’s appearances and doggedness have gained some traction; he sends us this recent posting by a new friend of his:

You can catch Sam’s update to his investigations over at his blog, whitecollarfraud.com (he’s found a bunch more stuff).

Message to Sammy: Have you heard about this DOGE thing down in D.C? I hear they’re looking for some good investigators….

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Crikey!

Nothing against Australia, but: why on EARTH are we funding their universities? And were our funding numbers so big that this warrants “an emergency meeting” featuring the Aussie PM?

It wasn’t enough for Biden to try to forgive everyone’s student loans in this country?

It’s enough to make you choke on your vegemite.

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And finally…

Can we get a set of playing cards featuring every fool arrested for keying a Tesla?

There’ll be 52 of them soon enough.

And beta males super-committed to the climate change cause are always much appreciated among the lifers in federal prison.

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