Another bus from Texas carrying migrants from south of the border arrived in Los Angeles Saturday, the 10th such arrival since June 14, Mayor Karen Bass’ office announced.

  • snooggums@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    No. It is not a good idea for the President to direct the DoJ to prosecute his political rivals.

    When they are blatantly breaking laws it absolutely is a good idea to prosecute them! They aren’t fucking royalty, they are people who happened to get elected into office and deserve to be treated the same as anyone else when it comes to human trafficking.

    • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I don’t see any evidence that they’re human trafficking. If they’re just offering a bus ride to California and not compelling people to take it, that sounds legal, if scummy. Handing someone a bus ticket or chartering them a bus to somewhere they want to go isn’t human trafficking.

      • snooggums@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        They are lying to the people to get them on the bus, which fits the definition. It is the same thing as someone in another country saying that they have a job lined up or certain connections to get people to a place they wouldn’t actually want to go if they knew the truth.

        • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Are they? I know the people DeSatan sent to Martha’s Vineyard were lied to, but I don’t have anything which suggests these people were lied to. Saying things like “there’s more jobs in California” or whatever doesn’t really count

          • snooggums@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Wait, are you saying that although another Republican governor was caught blatantly lying about the exact same situation that we need to hold off on judgement on a second one doing the same thing?

            • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              I’m saying that there’s not much legal ability to prosecute a governor for their official actions they take while in office.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The three elements to look for in an HT case (by Texas Penal Code) are Force, Fraud or Coercion. Abbott is lying to them to get them onto busses (fraud). He’s also using the presence of law enforcement in guiding them to busses (coercion). He then profits by the positive publicity he receives for these actions.

        Incidentally, according to the victims’ interviews, they are being told that “this is the process”. They are not being sold on a bus trip to California, they are being told “get on the bus, this is how we do things” and are usually not even told their destination. Their familes are waiting for them in places other than California. They would never agree to this.

        Abbott may never be charged, but he is violating both Texas and U.S. law (which is extremely similar for HT cases) in doing this. No one in TX can arrest or charge the governor, obviously. So, it’s up to the DOJ to do something. Since Garland is a conservative and Biden is too nice to demand action, this harmful conservative behavior will continue.

        Conservatism is a plague of oppression in dire need of a cure.

        • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          No, even if everything you said was true - and I’m not sure it is - Abbott is protected against criminal prosecution for actions he takes as governor in his official capacity, outside of some specific exceptions like corruption. Since it’s Texas state policy to charter buses and transport migrants elsewhere, what he is doing doesn’t fall under the DoJ’s purview.

          If anyone were to try to stop this using the courts, it would have to be California. They’d have to sue in federal court to get an injection against Texas continuing to send them migrants. I’m not sure what law they’d use or if there even was one, but they’re the injured party and would be the only party with standing.

          • APassenger@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It would be a political non-starter for any California Governor to indicate the immigrants are unwelcome.

            Sue for costs, maybe? But we (California) keep describing migrants as net positives to our economy, so it would undercut messaging.

            • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              I don’t think California could sue for costs, only sue to stop a policy which affects them. Sovereign immunity, I think would cover this