The 'Judicial Black Hole' of El Salvador's Prisons Is a Warning for Americans

Judicial authority, jurisdiction, and contempt

• Commenters argue US courts do have leverage even if detainees are in El Salvador: anyone who facilitated removals or funded the program could be held in contempt until people are returned.
• Others note the administration’s stance is essentially “it’s another country, no jurisdiction,” and that this is being actively tested in court for at least one “accidentally” deported person.
• Concern is raised that government ignoring court orders (or only respecting the Supreme Court) reveals a deeper constitutional crisis: the law is only as real as people’s willingness to enforce it.

Evidence-free designation and use of old war powers

• Multiple comments mock official claims that lack of criminal records increases risk, seeing it as “lack of evidence is evidence” logic reminiscent of McCarthyism.
• Discussion centers on use of the Alien Enemies Act / war-like powers, with debate over:
  • Whether a “war” on gangs/terror groups meets statutory triggers.
  • Whether Congress effectively abdicated oversight.
  • The absurdity of relying on an 18th‑century “odious” law to justify 2025 mass deportations.

Outsourcing extrajudicial detention to El Salvador

• Many see the program as “Guantánamo outsourced” or “Suffering as a Service”: the US pays another state to run de facto black sites and avoid domestic scrutiny, due process, and political cost.
• Comparisons are made to UK–Rwanda deportations, but El Salvador’s system is seen as worse: secret removals, no hearings, no notice, and no clear path back.

Rule of law, fascism, and unequal justice

• A long subthread argues that the US has been building this machinery for decades (asset forfeiture, black sites, surveillance, qualified immunity) and elites are only now worried it could target them.
• Others connect this to broader fears of rising fascism, historians leaving the US, and the lesson that law is just paper unless people act.
• Unequal enforcement—harsh on the poor, lenient on white‑collar crime—is cited as fueling nihilism and eroding belief in legal norms.

El Salvador’s crime drop vs. mass incarceration

• Some highlight El Salvador’s drastic homicide decline as proof that mass sweeps and mega‑prisons “worked” and transformed daily life.
• Critics counter that:
  • The state now runs the world’s highest incarceration rate, detaining many on flimsy suspicion (tattoos, age, associations).
  • Imprisonment without due process is inherently inhumane, regardless of outcomes.
  • Today’s popular strongman can easily become tomorrow’s unaccountable dictator, and “terrorism” definitions are elastic.

Guns, resistance, and what happens next

• A debate emerges over the Second Amendment:
  • One side claims this moment vindicates the need to arm against state abuse (citing Black Panthers as prior example).
  • Others argue widespread guns have not prevented democratic backsliding and are useless if neighbors support the regime.

Overall framing

• Many see the El Salvador prison deal not as a “warning” but as the logical next step in a long US trajectory of responsibility‑laundering, extrajudicial practices, and selective rule of law.