Thread by @GregTSargent

.@jdvance’s call for a functional end to due process for migrants is riddled with deceptions, bad faith, and embarrassingly awful logic. Here’s a response, including answering his “question.” First, his 20 million: I challenge you to substantiate this, JD. 1/

https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1912320489261027374

Vance again claims as fact that Kilmar Abrego Garcia (KAG) is a member of MS-13. This is based on the Gang Field Interview Sheet (GFIS) filed by a Maryland cop, which ICE used in the 2019 effort to deport him. It's an extremely weak case. Here's why. 2/

The GFIS claims KAG wore clothing identifying him as a MS-13 member (very weak evidence) and that a “confidential source” identified him as part of the Westerns clique, which operates in NY, where he never lived (even weaker evidence). 3/

While a judge did deny KAG bail during the 2019 proceedings, this is also a weak evidentiary basis for JD’s claim. As @rparloff shows, that was largely based on the aforementioned confidential source. 4/

lawfaremedia.org/article/abrego…

@rparloff As we reported, the cop who filled out GFIS was suspended soon after for serious misconduct. This doesn’t settle the matter, but it casts more doubt on the process designating KAG as MS-13. 5/

newrepublic.com/article/194010…

@rparloff JD should be pressed on why we should take this GFIS as gospel given all this. Also, JD, if KAG is a dangerous criminal, why wasn’t KAG ever charged with, let alone convicted for, any gang-related crime? JD should be pressed on this, too. 6/

@rparloff It bears repeating: EVEN IF there WERE a mountain of evidence tying KAG to MS-13, he would STILL be entitled to due process, and the current deportation would STILL be illegal.

This is where JD's other argument comes into play. 7/

@rparloff JD says KAG doesn’t deserve a “third deportation hearing,” meaning he already had due process.

Note JD’s slippery deception. He omits that THE CURRENT DEPORTATION IS ILLEGAL.

It is THIS FACT, that OUR GOVERNMENT ACTED, that reopens the need for due process. 8/

@rparloff JD asks: What is the left asking for? On KAG, it’s simple: If you want him deported, all you have to do is return him & recontest his “withholding of removal” status, or move to deport him to a third country. JD, you have this option. Why not take it? 9/

newrepublic.com/article/193943…

@rparloff JD keeps saying KAG already had due process. But JD's govt illegally defied the ruling yielded by this process, which gave KAG qualified protected status.

It is the act of JD’s govt in violation of that, IRRESPECTIVE of anything KAG did/didn’t do, that requires due process. 10/

@rparloff Finally, JD's big “gotcha” is his claim that the left doesn’t want us to deport all who came illegally. What do we propose instead, he asks?

This deceptively frames the choice as *only* between 1) leaving all undocs in that status here forever; and 2) deporting them all. 11/

@rparloff You are correct, JD, we don't want to deport most longtime undoc residents who've committed no serious crimes. We say most should instead get a qualified path to legalization, packaged with other reforms that would make the system function better. We are very open about this! 12/

@rparloff Many of us would accept codifying real restrictions on asylum, because this system *has* become unmanageable, along w/scaled up resources for processing + broader legal pathways for entry to make migration more orderly, which *even some GOPers and their constituencies want.* 13/

@rparloff I'd put these solutions up against yours any day of the week, JD. Yours treats complex problems w/cartoonishly simplistic thinking & squanders huge amounts of enforcement resources. Ours addresses the situation’s complexities and seeks to manage them in the national interest. 14/

@rparloff Yours rest on a rigid faux morality barring migrants' circumstances or time's passage & their integration into US life from any role in our moral deliberations. They reflect a false conception of American identity. They yield awful real-world outcomes.

There's your answer, JD.