Well done Rep #JoaquinCastro!

During the #House #Intelligence Cmte hearing, #Castro asked #TulsiGabbard why #Venezuela was not included in the annual #ThreatAssessment Report. Castro cited #Trump’s invocation of the #AlienEnemiesAct to conduct #MassDeportations & Trump’s claim that he could invoke the #AEA because he believes we are at #war with Venezuela. Castro asked #Gabbard that if we are at war with a country how is it possible that they didn’t warrant entry in the assessment.

And just what does that rapid expansion of the fascist police state look like even in the infancy of the Trump administration? As this March 9th piece published on Truthout notes, it's already a fascist nightmare where migrants are kept in inhumane conditions and their human rights are routinely violated in violent, even lethal ways - and Downmarket Mussolini's regime is only getting started:

https://truthout.org/articles/as-mass-incarceration-of-immigrants-rises-detention-centers-eye-new-contracts/

As Mass Incarceration of Immigrants Rises, Detention Centers Eye New Contracts

"That crisis is set to grow as detention expansion continues. Last week, ICE signed a $1 billion, 15-year contract with the private prison company GEO Group to reopen an empty jailhouse in Newark to incarcerate up to 1,000 immigration prisoners at a time, the first large detention expansion under Trump’s crackdown.

GEO Group pushed hard for the contract and sued New Jersey in 2024 to successfully overturn a state law originally supported by racial justice activists that banned private companies from contracting with ICE to house immigrants. Now, GEO Group reportedly has plans to increase the facility’s capacity to incarcerate people and potentially generate an additional $500 to $600 million in annual profit. The company has faced multiple lawsuits after immigrants were subjected to what attorneys describe as underpaid and forced labor. Most recently, a federal court upheld a ruling requiring GEO Group to pay $23 million in damages after the company paid ICE detainees $1 a day for labor at a detention center in Tacoma, Washington."

Like most honest reporting about America's horrifying migrant carceral complex, this is a hard story to read for folks who aren't already familiar with the cruelty, depravity, and casual disregard for human life with which Americans conduct their one-sided war on migrants. The testimony from formerly-incarcerated individuals provided in just this single story should be enough for most people to understand that this has nothing to do with so-called responsible policing, or keeping anyone safe, while the dollar figures involved make it clear that broadly speaking the US government is heavily-funding a whole lot of odious people in the business of torturing migrants for profit. Furthermore, as Trump works to expand the hunting, detention, and deportation of migrants, the piles of money, flow of human rights violations, and atrocities committed in the name of protecting Americans from the lady who works at your local nail salon, will only expand correspondingly.