Before they ever set foot in the United States, Lisbeth and her sons went through months of vetting, in-person interviews and background checks to be resettled as refugees from Venezuela. [00:00:15] So she was shocked when the family arrived at the Houston airport and immigration agents arrested her 24 year old son, Wilmer. The reason? A tattoo of a rose and a clock, which an agent wrote, are associated with the Venezuelan gang de Aragua. [00:00:33] Well, sadly, it turns out that Wilmer isn't the only immigrant who came into the United States through a legal process only to be sent to a terrorist detention facility in El Salvador by the Trump administration. In fact, according to a new analysis by libertarian think tank Cato Institute, [00:00:51] dozens, dozens of immigrants or migrants. I should say that the Trump administration has sent to Mexico, which is that detention facility entered the U.S. Legally. Legally, they weren't here illegally. Now, I know that there are some Trump supporters who think it's the same. [00:01:09] They don't care. You're here legally or illegally. Whatever. Trump supporting you, that's great. But for those who actually care about human rights, who care about the rule of law, who care about due process, this story should concern you and concern you quite a bit. So they write in their report that for 48% of the 174 deportees [00:01:29] about whom they have some information, they have no info about their method of crossing into the United States. But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they can that they came legally to the United States with advanced permission [00:01:48] at an official border crossing point. Yeah. So, guys, I used to be for the death penalty, and you can think whatever you want about that. And, you know, I, I believe in justice and sometimes a little bit of vengeance. So I don't know if that makes me a bad person or not, [00:02:04] but I stopped being for the death penalty. Why? The Innocence Project proved that 4% of the people on death row were innocent. It was actually dozens of people that we were going to kill when they didn't do it. So it's one thing to kill somebody when they killed someone. [00:02:20] It's another one to kill an innocent person. Right. So in this case, if you say, hey, we got to close the border and we're going to kick out people who are undocumented. I understand that's what the American people did vote for. And and to this day, it pulls it a little above 50%. So I get it. [00:02:37] But it's a different thing to deport people who didn't do anything wrong, right. And who had a good legal reason to be here. And when you don't take the time to figure out which one is which and you go, who cares, let's just send them back. [00:02:53] Well then, by definition it's wrong. Unless you think I don't care about facts and I don't care if they're here legally, I it makes me feel emotionally better if we just punish some random people that don't look like me. These legal immigrants include a temporary visa holder [00:03:10] and four men who were authorized to travel through the United States refugee program. By the way, that's how both of my parents came to the United States legally as Armenian refugees. They were allowed into the country, went through the process, became American citizens, and contributed to this country, to the economy as many immigrants do. [00:03:31] The government vetted these refugees abroad and concluded that they would face persecution, letting them settle in the United States. The other 45 illegal immigrants scheduled appointments using the CBP one app through [00:03:47] which they were permitted to seek entry. Among those with appointments, 24 were paroled into the U.S., where they could live and work legally for up to two years, while the other 21 were detained at the port of entry. And it's not just the Cato Institute, by the way, publishing these findings, [00:04:02] because, you know, libertarians tend to be in favor of immigration, even illegal immigration, because it helps corporations. Let's keep it real. But a Reuters survey of 50 men deported to El Salvador also placed the proportion of [00:04:18] those who entered legally at about half. So that figure makes sense, because about half of all the Venezuelans who have immigrated to the United States over the past two years came legally as well, either as refugees, parolees, or visa holders. [00:04:34] So Trump is taking away temporary protective status from Venezuelan immigrants. And so what that means is, since they were fleeing what we consider to be a communist country, we were giving them refuge. But Trump has decided that he's not going to give them refuge anymore. [00:04:51] That is completely within his power. He's allowed to do that. I give you that as an example of okay, I agree or disagree. That's a thing he's allowed to do. He is not allowed to take people who are here legally and send them to a dungeon in El Salvador. [00:05:08] That's not close to legal. It's not within a million miles legal. And by the way, if you're in the right wing and you want to send undocumented immigrants back, this is going to set your cause back because the American people are going to go, well, now I'm against the program. If you're sending people here who are here legally to a dungeon in El Salvador. [00:05:26] No, I vote no. Right. So it's a disaster. It makes no sense at all. And it's partly because they're lazy. Take the time to find out who's undocumented and who isn't. It's not that big an ask. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. [00:05:44] Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.