And then the US courts tell you that you can't actually do that.
> The DOJ has refused to comply with some orders (lawful orders!) and the administration has doubled-down when they've made mistakes.
Yeah, they're schmucks. They make some argument where the plane is already outside of the US and claim that's outside the court's jurisdiction, and then some appellate court has to decide if that argument is BS or not.
But here's the thing that doesn't happen in Nazi Germany: If the appellate court decides that argument is BS, those government officials can be subject to criminal penalties. Especially if they continue to do it even after the court has ruled against them.
> Trump has even joked about having the power to bring back people from El Salvador, but choosing not to use that power.
That one's actually a hard problem. One of the things that is pretty clear is that US courts don't have jurisdiction over El Salvador. So what happens if the person is already there and El Salvador is refusing to release them? Does Trump actually have the power to bring them back? Are the US courts going to order the US to send Marines into a foreign country to extricate this person? What are they even supposed to do at that point?
Well, this is the part that remains to be seen. Is anyone going to go to prison? For my money, no. But I'm cynical. We'll see what happens. But, I think merely a theoretical rule of law means nothing. I'm sure Nazi Germany had many laws on the books that were broken and subsequently ignored.