Tuesday, April 8, 2025 - '60 Minutes' exposes egregious ICE missteps in 'grab & go" deportations to CECOT

The "period of mourning" we've all sleep-walked through since election night last November may be subsiding for most of us, but Sunday's ⁠'60 Minutes' segment - detailing the callous disregard for due process and lack of contrition (let alone empathy) for those wrongly sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison⁠ - was, for me anyway, a setback. I kept telling myself "this isn't who we are as a country," while watching it, but having let it set in a couple days, I've come to realize it's exactly who we are; and what we are is "awful." Among those appearing to be sent to CECOT by mistake is a 31-year old makeup artist and theatre buff - a gay Venezuelan who fled his home country because of his sexuality (⁠being gay is rough in Venezuela⁠) and political persecution last spring. He arrived at a legal port of entry and filed for asylum; you know, "the right way." Yet his wrist tattoos honoring his parents feature crowns and well, to Trump-era ICE folks, that clearly (note: sarcasm) means "Tren de Aragua," the notorious Venezuelan gang. Then there's the guy who - 14 years ago in his teens, and on social media - flashed the ⁠"rock on" / "devil's horns"⁠ hand signal - or to out-of-touch tight-ass white people "Tren de Aragua gang sign!!!!" Just when you think this administration has shown us all their shortcomings, they show us there's still more in the tank. Unfortunately, it reflects on all of us.