31.3.25
My latest — a detailed report about the formidable legal challenges to Donald Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which he used to deport 238 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, without providing any evidence that the men were, as he alleged, members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The flights took place on March 15, even though Judge James Boasberg, the Chief Judge of the District Court in Washington, D.C. had issued a temporary restraining order preventing the removal of any migrants, and I analyze the subsequent litigation, leading to a definitive ruling by Judge Boasberg on March 24, in which he refused to back down, and the ruling two days later, in the Circuit Court, supporting Judge Boasberg’s ruling, in which Judge Patricia Millett made the memorable observation — highlighted in the heading of my article — that Nazis held in the US in the Second War and subjected to the Alien Enemies Act had more rights than Venezuelan migrants right now under Donald Trump. The case has now been submitted to the Supreme Court, where, we must hope, it doesn’t prevail, as the heart of Trump’s cruel lawlessness is his insistence that he had the right to deport these men to a notoriously vile foreign prison without providing any evidence that any of them were gang members, as alleged, and without providing them with any form of due process. I also run through some of the many stories reported about these men, which would seem to establish definitively that they are not gang members, and conclude by comparing Trump’s actions to those of the Bush administration, when the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay was established 23 years ago, holding men and boys without evidence, and without any due process, which, as I explain, was, and is "a fast-track way to turn a country that claims to respect the rule into one that is indistinguishable from a brutal dictatorship."
25.3.25
As the official death toll in Gaza passes 50,000, and the journalist Hossam Shabat is ruthlessly targeted and murdered by Israel, I examine how, when secondary deaths are taken into account, a more realistic death toll may be as high as 250,000. I also point out how almost 500 times as many Palestinian children (17,492) have been killed by Israel compared to the number of Israeli children (36) killed on October 7, and point out how, again, when secondary deaths are taken into account, that total may rise to over 87,000 Palestinian children, more than 2,400 times as many as the number of Israeli children killed on October 7. I also celebrate the life and work of Hossam Shabat, and discredit the lies told about him and the more than 220 journalists murdered by Israel, who have all been falsely accused of being Hamas operatives, and I also point out how these same lies have been applied to the more than 1,500 doctors and medical staff killed or disappeared into Israel’s horrendous prisons for Palestinians, and how, in addition, Israel continues to kill Hamas administrative officials from all walks of life, blatantly ignoring the fact that they were not connected with the military or involved in the October 7 attacks. With the resumption of the genocide eight days ago, I express my horror that this is happening, as it confirms how an entire country has lost its way, and now lives only to kill as many Palestinians as possible, and I condemn the western countries, and the western mainstream media, who largely continue to support Israel, and who, as a result, are dragging us all down into depraved and unprecedented depths of inhumanity. I end with Hossam Shabat’s final words, which I encourage you to read in full, and which end with the following request for our continued support: "I ask you now: do not stop speaking about Gaza. Do not let the world look away. Keep fighting, keep telling our stories — until Palestine is free."
22.3.25
My report about the latest horrors in the "war on migrants" declared by Donald Trump when he took office two months ago, focused on his inappropriate invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport migrants, which also involved him flagrantly ignoring a temporary restraining order issued by a federal court judge preventing the use of the Act, and immediately sending 238 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, along with 23 alleged Salvadorian gang members, to be imprisoned in the notorious CECOT "mega-prison", established by El Salvador’s hardline President Nayib Bukele. This unconscionable off-shoring — for money — of migrants to a reviled prison in another country took place, as with Trump’s recent use of Guantánamo to hold migrants, without any evidence having been provided to back up the administration’s assertions that these men were members of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, with stories emerging, as at Guantánamo, that they were nothing more than men who had sought to get to the US to secure work, and that the entire basis of their alleged gang membership is a result of sweeping and imprecise assessments of the significance of their tattoos.
19.3.25
My report about the heartbreaking resumption of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, as numerous attacks in the early hours of March 18 killed over 400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, bringing the two-month ceasefire to a blood-soaked end. Although Israel has cynically tried to blame Hamas, the responsibility lies solely with Israel itself, whose flailing excuses cannot disguise the blunt truth that they never wanted to proceed to the second phase of the ceasefire, which required their full military withdrawal, and manufactured excuses to implement a "complete siege" on Gaza two weeks ago, and, yesterday, to once more begin slaughtering Palestinian civilians. Although Israel’s actions have been greeted with outrage around the world, the resumption of the genocide has Trump’s backing, the UN remains as powerless as ever, and the best hope for a resolute challenge is perhaps from within Israel itself, where the families of the remaining hostages are openly condemning the government — and have the support of a majority of the Israeli population.
17.3.25
My analysis of a devastating new report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, finding that Israel is guilty of "the crime against humanity of extermination", through the deaths of women and girls "from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth due to the conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities which have denied access to reproductive healthcare." The Commission also found that Israel has engaged in acts "amounting to two categories of genocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention"; namely, "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians and imposing measures intended to prevent births", through its "systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare" in Gaza. The Commission also found Israel guilty of "the crime against humanity of murder and the war crime of wilful killing" for targeted killings of women, and for female fatalities on "an unprecedented scale" as the result of Israel "deliberately targeting residential buildings and using heavy explosives in densely populated areas." The timing is appropriate, as, for the last two weeks, Israel has once more imposed a "complete siege" on Gaza, as part of deliberate attempt to sabotage the ceasefire in place since January 19, which can only compound the ongoing suffering of women and girls in Gaza. Condemnation has been widespread, but, as I note in conclusion, there is is still no clear way forward towards a lasting peace, and in the meantime the death toll will continue to rise; perhaps, as the renowned surgeon Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta suggested in December, being as high as 300,000, of whom at least a third — 100,000 people in total — are women and girls.
7.3.25
Photos from, and my report about the coordinated monthly global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US and in London, Brussels and Mexico City on March 5, 2025. The "First Wednesday" vigils have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for the last two years, and are, of course, continuing under Donald Trump, after he has cynically, cruelly and illegally decided to use the prison to hold migrants as part of the racist "war on migrants" that he declared when he took office.
4.3.25
My report about an important lawsuit submitted to the District Court in Washington, D.C. by the ACLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), asking the Court to urgently intervene to "put a stop" to what they accurately describe as the Trump administration’s "cruel, unnecessary and illegal transfers" of migrants to the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The lawsuit was submitted on behalf of ten named individuals — seven Venezuelans, an Afghan, a Pakistani and a Bangladeshi — who are currently being held in immigration detention facilities in Texas, Virginia and Arizona run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but who legitimately fear being sent to Guantánamo. The lawyers correctly argue that, even though the men’s asylum claims were ultimately unsuccessful, and they have all been subjected to "final removal" orders, they are still protected by the US Constitution, and by US law; specifically, the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Regarding the Constitution, the lawyers argue that the transfers and detention of the migrants at Guantánamo "violate due process under the Fifth Amendment because the transfers are undertaken for punitive, illegitimate reasons and the conditions in which the detainees are housed are unconstitutional." It is to be hoped that the Court arranges a hearing soon, and that the judge recognizes the illegality of the Trump administration’s actions, and can act to stop it.
27.2.25
Following up on a compelling Washington Post article featuring interviews with three of the 127 Venezuelan migrants held in Camp 6 of the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay between February 4 and February 20, when they were repatriated (although only to be replaced by new arrivals from the US mainland), I note how alarming it is to hear about the brutality and dehumanization to which they were subjected, including invasive strip-searches, a ban on almost all outdoor recreation time, a ban on all contact with the outside world, and an atmosphere that was so oppressive that a number of them tried to kill themselves. I discuss how the rhetoric about them being "the worst of the worst" seems to be entirely unfounded, and ask, above all, one burning question: who authorized these conditions of confinement, more punitive than those implemented since the early days of the "war on terror"? I note that military guards don’t act autonomously, and that, therefore, their actions must be dictated by the "Standard Operating Procedures" (SOPs) put in place since Trump’s cynical and cruel "war on migrants" began, which need to be publicly revealed.
23.2.25
I celebrate the welcome news that Donald Trump’s use of Guantánamo to hold Venezuelan migrants as part of his cynical and cruel "war on migrants" seems to have come to an abrupt end, less than a month since it was first announced. On Thursday, 178 men were held in total — 51 in the existing Migrant Operations Center, established in the 1990s to hold migrants intercepted at sea, and 127 in Camp 6 of the "war on terror" prison. While the legality of the entire enterprise was extremely dubious, the use of Camp 6 was glaringly illegal, as the legislation establishing the prison’s existence in January 2002 (the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force) only ever justified its use for those seized in connection with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces, with specific reference to the 9/11 attacks. On Thursday, after a court hearing in response to a challenge by rights groups including the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, all but one of these men were flown back to Venezuela via Honduras, with the remaining man flown back to detention on the US mainland. It is to be hoped that this is the end of this particularly malign and lawless project, and that it was meant to be an act of "performative cruelty" on Trump’s part to appeal to his base, but it is, sadly, all too typical of an administration that, on as many fronts as possible, is intent on pushing a narrative that the president should be able to do whatever he wants, unrestrained by any of the checks and balances on presidential power that are part of the Constitution.
15.2.25
My detailed analysis of the latest disturbing news regarding Donald Trump’s "war on migrants", and, specifically, his use of Guantánamo, where, as of February 12, 98 Venezuelan migrants had been sent from the US mainland, with 45 of them being held in the Migrant Operations Center used since the 1990s, and 53 in Camp 6 of the notorious "war on terror" prison, after the three remaining "low-value detainees" — all long approved for release, but still held — were moved into the neighboring Camp 5, where the other remaining prisoners, 12 "high-value detainees", are also held. The legality of sending any migrant from the US mainland to Guantánamo is extremely dubious, but it is beyond doubt that holding any of these men in the "war on terror" prison is absolutely illegal, because the authorization for holding prisoners there, passed after the 9/11 attacks, stipulates that they can only be people accused of involvement with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces, in connection with 9/11. Framing this in the context of Trump’s wider "war on migrants", I analyze the cynical comparisons being deliberately made with the "war on terror", I examine the lawsuit submitted last week seeking access to the prison for lawyers representing the migrants, and I also examine the stories that have emerged of three of these men, which reveal the same sweeping generalizations and distortions that were used to demonize Muslims in the "war on terror." As with the almost entirely non-existent terrorists at Guantánamo, beginning 23 years ago, the migrants seem not to be "the worst of the worst", as the Trump administration suggests, but entirely unconnected with any kind of criminal activity — one being a car mechanic, and another a barber — who were doing nothing more than trying, with the odds stacked against them, as for so many migrants, simply to get into the US to work.
Andy Worthington
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the "war on terror." Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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