How Much Injustice Will Americans Take?

A Saturday Prompt

(Illustration by Westend61 via Getty Images)

Yesterday Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested on charges of obstruction after an immigrant and his lawyer left Dugan’s courtroom through a private exit while federal agents waited outside. FBI Director Kash Patel boasting about his agency’s arrest of the judge. “Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public…Excellent work,” he wrote on X. (The post was subsequently deleted.) Chimed in Attorney General Pam Bondi on Fox News without concern for the evidentiary process, “These judges think they’re above the law. They are not. We will come after you and prosecute you.”

As a Milwaukee County executive put it, this was a “large performative showing of law enforcement officials” and was meant to “instill fear and hostility across our community.” As attorney and democracy advocate Norm Eisen put it, “This is not a crime. A judge has the authority in her courthouse to excuse a defendant for God’s sake.”

I could write more about this, but last night the story broke of three children ages 2, 4 and 7—all U.S. citizens—being taken out of the country without due process. While details are still emerging, the American Civil Liberties Union noted that the “rapid early-morning deportation” involved two mothers (one who is pregnant) and their children, including a two-year-old who suffers from a rare form of metastatic cancer and was removed without needed medication. Reportedly, she and her mother were taken to Honduras and against the father’s wishes and his emergency appeal.

ICE “ignored their own protocols on legal access and protecting children’s rights to enact an expedient deportation they know to be unlawful,” noted Fatima Khan with the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants. “Not only that, they disappeared these families before any U.S. Court could stand up for its children.”

The arrest of a judge for not facilitating immigration enforcement and the removal (indeed kidnapping and trafficking) of U.S.-born children represent the escalation of this regime’s lawlessness and inhumanity—part of its expanding commitment to stoke fear, ignore its constitutional obligations and threaten the lives of everyone in America, non-citizen or citizen. It should be noted that these latest transgressions precede the Supreme Court hearing arguments next month on birthright citizenship that seek to undo the 14th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War essentially to give freed slaves legal status but in effect guarantees citizenship to virtually everyone born in the U.S. The speed with which Trump operatives Patel and Bondi took to the public sphere underscores the regime’s desire to accelerate fear and intimidation by creating ugly spectacles.

Let’s be clear: There will be more. We can stand by and cross our fingers that legal advocates and the courts will successfully intervene to stop these lawless acts. But it’s hard to see how this regime, determined to desecrate due process and the fundamental rules and principles of our justice system, can be slowed without larger responses involving millions and millions of Americans stating unequivocally that they’ve had enough.

So the question is: How much injustice will Americans take? Has the arrest of a judge crossed a line you cannot tolerate? How about the taking of three small American children and a pregnant mother out of the country in the middle of the night without due process? Have we crossed the Rubicon yet? Or do you think most people will simply process this information, wonder what comes next in the flood of illegal escalations, and carry on as if there’s nothing to be done? Will justice issues be the fulcrum that ignite Americans’ dissent—or will it take increasing economic hardship for that to happen?

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

One other note: I’ve gotten messages from several readers who say they are struggling with overwhelming news and they need to take a break. I get it. Each of us needs to take care of our well-being from day to day and disengage when necessary. This is a marathon, not a sprint. But I also hope you will continue to do what you can, including engaging with our America, America community. We—all of us together—have nothing less than our country to save.

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