President Trump threatens to imprison U.S. citizens in foreign detention facilities.
It happened off-camera, but not in secret. Just before members of the press were ushered from the room, President Trump turned to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and said the quiet part out loud: “Home-growns are next. The home-growns. You gotta build about five more places. It’s not big enough.”
Those five four words—“home-growns are next”—should send a chill down the spine of every person in this country.
Make no mistake: this wasn’t a slip, a misstatement, or a joke. It was a statement of intent. The President of the United States, a man convicted of multiple felonies and now openly campaigning on a platform of vengeance and retribution, explicitly stated that his administration intends to imprison U.S. citizens—home-growns—in foreign detention facilities.
“Home-growns are next.” – President Trump
And we already know what kind of facilities he means.
In recent months, the Trump administration has forcibly deported immigrants—including those with legal status—to prisons in El Salvador. These are not facilities that meet any standard of due process, humane conditions, or independent oversight. They are black-box institutions of terror and brutality, where even a Supreme Court ruling has no effect. Take Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a U.S. resident sent to El Salvador. The Supreme Court unanimously ordered his return. The administration refused. He remains imprisoned today.
These are not hypotheticals. These are the dry runs.
Now the president wants to expand the program—to include you.
When Trump says “home-growns,” he means U.S. citizens. People born and raised in this country. People with full constitutional rights. And when he tells another head of state to build “five more places,” he is asking for infrastructure to hold American citizens offshore, beyond the reach of our courts, our Constitution, our laws, and our journalists.
This is not a policy proposal. It’s a threat.
And the justification? “Violent people,” Trump said.
But let’s pause here. In the American criminal legal system, the term “violent” is vague, malleable, and deeply political. It has been expanded to include drug offenses, property damage, resisting arrest, and even, in some states, minor altercations. It doesn’t require harm, intent, or even a victim. If law enforcement wants to call someone violent, they will—and the courts will rarely stand in their way.
Those five words—“home-growns are next”—should send a chill down the spine of every person in this country.
The danger is not just that Trump is calling for unconstitutional detention of U.S. citizens abroad. The danger is that he’s creating the pretext to do so by manipulating the label of “violent.” And in a system already overflowing with prosecutorial discretion, the potential for abuse is staggering.
This isn’t just about law and order. This is about power.
For months now, Trump has spoken openly about jailing his enemies, rounding up undocumented immigrants, and deploying the military domestically. Now, with three chilling words—“home-growns are next”—he has made it clear that the target has expanded.
He’s not just coming for migrants. He’s coming for Americans.
And yes, this is a turning point. Even the Prison Policy Initiative, one of the nation’s leading research organizations on mass incarceration, said they were “at a loss for what to say.” Their mission has always been grounded in data, analysis, and research. But how do you quantify the unthinkable? How do you map the moment when authoritarian rhetoric becomes authoritarian policy?
The truth is, we don’t know exactly what comes next. Attorney General Pam Bondi is reportedly “exploring the legality” of detaining U.S. citizens in foreign prisons. Every credible legal scholar agrees: it would be unconstitutional. But this administration has made clear that it does not view the Constitution as a constraint. It views it as an obstacle—or worse, an inconvenience.
And if legal justifications don’t exist, they’ll invent them. They’ve done it before. They’ll do it again.
We must not normalize this moment. We must not let these words be buried under the avalanche of political news or dismissed as empty rhetoric. Because we’ve seen what happens when we look away. From internment camps to COINTELPRO, from Guantánamo to ICE raids, the United States has a long history of violating the rights of the vulnerable when fear and power intersect.
He’s not just coming for migrants. He’s coming for Americans.
The warning signs are flashing red. This isn’t about partisanship. This is about authoritarianism. This is about the future of civil liberties in America. If we allow a president to imprison his own citizens without trial, on foreign soil, under the banner of “public safety,” there will be no limiting principle. No one will be safe.
This is not just about prisons. It’s about the soul of our democracy.
So what do we do?
We resist. We organize. We speak up. We support the journalists, attorneys, and human rights defenders already on the front lines. We demand that our representatives take this threat seriously—because the infrastructure of American authoritarianism is being assembled right now, in real time, before our eyes.
We don’t know what comes next. But we know what must not come next.
Because home-growns are not expendable.
They are not enemies.
They are us.
And we must fight for them—before it’s too late.
“Those five words—“home-growns are next”
New math?
Haven’t read 1984 in awhile?
I guess I missed the “nuance” in the article.
Definitely
Maybe next time you can proceed it with the word “Orwellian” or something to that effect for us dummies?
I was actually kidding. It was a typo, probably because I had just referenced the number five in the previous sentence.
“What is happening now is not normal politics. We’re seeing an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life, things we should all swear loyalty to — Democrat, independent or Republican.
It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”
— David Brooks
Insurrection? Treason? Civil war?
Panic?
No Keith, not insurrection or treason orange civil war. Watch the Friday segment of Brooks and Capeheart for them talking about what Don has posted above. https://pbs.org/video/brooks-capehart-1745012710?source=social
“Make no mistake: this wasn’t a slip, a misstatement, or a joke.”
I think it was a joke. But I’ll gladly reverse my thought and admit I was wrong if he starts shipping home-growns south.
“Now the president wants to expand the program—to include you.”
I’m guessing I get to stay. He may be expanding the program to include *you*, however.
At the very least, he no longer gets the benefit the doubt. As I told someone yesterday, I’m fully expecting to end up in a Gulag somewhere.
If you do, I’m sure a Democrat politician will come and visit you.
Why is that not a comforting thought?
“As I told someone yesterday, I’m fully expecting to end up in a Gulag somewhere.”
That’s not going to happen. You’re being totally paranoid.
The road to fascism is lined with people who tell you to stop overreacting.
“The road to fascism is lined with people who tell you to stop overreacting.”
I saw that somewhere recently. Where was that? Hmmm . . . trying to remember. DG!!!!
It was a premonition
Being implemented in other authoritarian regimes as we speak. https://apnews.com/article/belarus-lukashenko-crackdown-journalists-1f4d123b2944d68d5b33d2baf29091f5
“There are many of us who saw a Harris term and thus the enabling of continued gaslighting from the far-left as a fascistic horror. Also possible a fascistic dictatorship could come from Trump. ”
There is no need to wonder why I consider Alan a right winger when he says stuff like this.
He is starting off with a supposed “far-left…fascistic horror” as a *fact*, while the literal fascism we are seeing happening in real time is, in his estimation, merely “possible” and “could happen” (newsflash: it. is. happening. right. now).
Gee. I wonder why he seems “right wing.”
He puts forth a false (hysterical, even) statement of there being “far leftists” in the previous administration, who were gaslighting” people and trying to establish “fascistic horror,” while completely ignoring and sanewashing what is currently happening with the Trump administration.
These “centrists” (“nice, polite bystanders”) find any excuse to swing toward liberals while finding any reason at all to excuse what is actually happening on the right.
Pathetic. Don’t whine about being characterized as “right wing” when you engage in this crapola.
I don’t like to tell people they are being paranoid. How do you know that someone’s fear isn’t justified?
I’m going to step out on a really thin limb here and say David is NEVER going to end up in a Gulag somewhere because of Trump?
As I’ve said before – I’d rather have to explain why I was wrong than why I was silent. Someday, you may have to explain the latter.
Heck David, the 50 foot wall of fire raging across the Yolo Bypass that you warned everyone about will probably get you before Trump ever puts you in a Gulag.
But if you do end up in a Gulag I promise to bake a cake and visit you.
So you’re willing do something after the fact, but not lift a finger when it’s still possible to make a difference. This is exactly how the Holocaust and countless other genocides and tyranny’s happened – people assumed it couldn’t happen there until it did.
Let me rephrase my point: What are you going to do different to make sure this never happens? Or are you simply going to hope it doesn’t?
“What are you going to do different to make sure this never happens?”
There are many of us who saw a Harris term and thus the enabling of continued gaslighting from the far-left as a fascistic horror. Also possible a fascistic dictatorship could come from Trump. Also possible that Lucas Frierichs becomes King of Yolo County.
Was is for sure is that garnering a readership of like-minded terrified/fearful people is great for ratings! :-|
This is exactly the problem – a pox on both their houses as we slouch towards Bethlehem.
This is Malik Washington. What’s confusing and sometimes frustrating is when Keith Olsen says something like “I don’t get the nuance.” Well, maybe I’ll break it down. During the RNC convention in Milwaukee last year, Donald Trump, his son Eric, and many others screamed at the top of their lungs that this administration would respect, promote and protect free speech. This is not what we have seen. What we have witnessed is a full frontal attack on free speech with a special emphasis on political speech that is critical of the administration’s foreign policy. Today is the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. We see a focus on so-called “home grown threats” but sadly the main individuals targeted are people of color and disadvantaged minorities. I am very concerned about the future, and I will continue to be very careful about what I write and say for fear that I may be chosen for a flight to the prison in El Salvador. 1984 is now!
No, I was referring to how 5 equals 4. So you wasted your breath with your long winded response.
Like I said DG, great job scaring the sh*t out of your readers. I’ll gladly retract my statement when the first plane load of American Citizens, whatever their advantage or disadvantage status, are sent to be warehoused in an El Salvadorian prison for The Donald
That’s like too late – that’s the Martin Niemoller warning (by the time they came for me, there was no one left to say anything)
Same as it ever was with “nice, polite bystanders.”
Same as it ever was with right wingers.
Funny KS how you and Walter are the only people on Earth who have ever referred to me as a ‘right-winger’.
From what I’ve observed of the world only the ‘my way, all the way, or the highway (gulag)’ far-far-far-left-wingers have this attitude that anyone who is not 100% splattered against the wall left wing is ‘right wing’. Y’all spook me way more than Trump as far as who is going to be front-loading the gulags.
I can see why they might think that – but I agree you aren’t a right winger.
The problem is that you are ignoring what’s happening to a large extent and excusing it with a pox on both their houses frame.
The quote that comes to mind: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” attributed to Burke though there is no record of his exact words on that. This is fundamentally a story about complicity with evil through inaction. It captures the moral idea that silence, passivity, or neutrality in the face of injustice enables the continuation or triumph of that injustice. I think that’s precisely what you’re doing right now.
Why bother? You know what engaging with KO will get you.
BTW: You didn’t “waste your breath.” Ignore his miserable bleating.
You speak reasonably, but the nice, polite bystanders will make sure you are drowned out and will bully you for good measure for speaking up.
Malik probably knows this better than all of us combined.
“Malik probably knows this better than all of us combined.”
Why? Is this another one of those situations where you are going to say, ‘you don’t know who XX is?’ and then feel better about yourself because you know more than me?
We’ve published at least 20 articles by him, it’s not hard to figure out who he is.
Yes. Those who know more and aren’t ignorant are objectively “better” than those who are proudly ignorant and trollish.
“We’ve published at least 20 articles by him, it’s not hard to figure out who he is.”
I just assume you write all the articles :-|
And, you seem to assume I read all the articles you publish. Not by a long shot.
I assume you don’t read anything you don’t comment on. That means you read about 10 percent of our articles.
Kendra, the Vanguard now has an “ignore” button that you asked about?
And?
You don’t like anyone holding a mirror up to the miserable type of human being you are.
Boo hoo hoo.
There are consequences to your free speech and one of them is being called out for what you are (a fascist fluffer, from the evidence you have given in your own words here for literal years).
SOMEBODY didn’t press it! One requested all the big bad conservatives to just ‘go away’, and asked for the tool to turn reality into their own personal truth by sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling, “LA! LA! LA! LA! People who think differently than me do not exist! LA! LA! LA! LA!”
Please. Press the button. You asked for it, you got it. Toyota.
And another of the miserable club chimes in.
BTW: There is no “far far far far left wingers” of any consequence in the government ushering in any kind of “fascism.”
You seem proudly ignorant of history and the political makeup of our own country.
Learn about the Overton Window and why there is no “left wing extremism” of *any* consequence in this country.
But no limit to how far the right wing can go, judging from you and Keith and other nice, polite bystanders.
I don’t believe in the Overton Window. Therefore, it does not exist.
You say there is no left-wing extremism. Yet, you and WS are like the only people ever, in my lifetime, who have called me right-wing. I was just in a spiritual conversation this morning in which the subject was how people form their own truths, yet are unable to see reality. Do you really believe that when you are the *only* two people who view me as ‘right wing’, when thousands of others have not seen me that way, that you are correct in your truth?
Also, you are the one using pejorative insults.
“ I don’t believe in the Overton Window. Therefore, it does not exist”
I don’t believe in Alan Miller therefore he doesn’t exist. Did that work?
“I don’t believe in Alan Miller therefore he doesn’t exist. Did that work?”
It did. There are many who do not believe in the Lord God King Bu-Fu, aka Alan Miller.
“Also, you are the one using pejorative insults.”
I think you need to re-read your nasty posts to me and re-think this. Go cry and whine about “pejorative insults” elsewhere.
Let’s not even pretend that I am trying to live in a different reality and not listen to alternative points of view. That is not the issue.
The issue is the way you and people like KO go about it: uncivil, nasty, brutish, bullying.
Then you have the unmitigated gall to whine and cry and demand protection from Dave when someone pushes back in equally nasty terms.
Cry harder.
David, why do you bother?
These clowns are not serious people.
It keeps me entertained while I do my real work behind the scenes
“You say there is no left-wing extremism. Yet, you and WS are like the only people ever, in my lifetime, who have called me right-wing. I was just in a spiritual conversation this morning in which the subject was how people form their own truths, yet are unable to see reality. Do you really believe that when you are the *only* two people who view me as ‘right wing’, when thousands of others have not seen me that way, that you are correct in your truth?”
Now *that’s* some stellar logic and critical reasoning on display right there.
🤣😆😂🤣😆😂🤣😆😂🤣😆😂🤣😆😂
“Please. Press the button. You asked for it, you got it. Toyota.”
Kendra never really wanted the button. If she actually used it she couldn’t conduct her boorish trollish behavior.
David asks: “Let me rephrase my point: What are you going to do different to make sure this never happens? Or are you simply going to hope it doesn’t?”
Kendra states: “But no limit to how far the right wing can go, judging from you and Keith and other nice, polite bystanders.”
Well, what are YOU two doing about it? And what CAN you do about it?
(Other than writing/arguing on a blog, or attending a demonstration which doesn’t seem to make any difference. And in the case of Kendra, adding insults directed at other commenters.)
You guys only see a tiny portion of the overall work of the Vanguard
I’ve seen the results of the work – Trump is in office. Some might claim that’s the RESULT of some of your work (e.g., concerns regarding illegal immigration, criminal justice reform, the “gender” controversy, etc.).
But hey – at least he’s on your side regarding “build, baby build”. (In Trump’s case, on PUBLIC land.)
Lol
Ya know what those opposed to him should have done? Convict Trump of multiple felonies. They had an opportunity to do so, but somehow didn’t do it.
Or, they could have suggested that Trump might pardon those convicted of the January 6th riots that Trump himself instigated.
Or, they could have made fun of him when he said that immigrants were eating cats and dogs. Yet another missed opportunity.
Some might even go so far as to try to assassinate him, and I’m surprised that no one has tried so far.
:-)
“You guys only see a tiny portion of the overall work of the Vanguard”
That’s because I don’t care about the rest, and probably outright oppose it.
But great job, as usual, allowing pejoratives when your policy is not to.
While that’s undoubtedly true – you comment as though you do.
There are other things to read on the internet, or so I’ve heard :-|
There are also a lot of things that we do that never get onto the internet.
“There are also a lot of things that we do that never get onto the internet.”
The Lord, and David Greenwald, work in strange and mysterious ways. But the Lord doesn’t hint at how cool those mysterious ways are and not tell us about them, hinting that those mysterious ways involve doing the Lord’s work.
And the nice, polite bystander conveniently bypassed the questions. Especially the one about how far right is ever *too far right* for these types.
I’m still waiting to see when Keith says, enough. Amazingly haven’t gotten there yet.
In this country, there honestly doesn’t seem to be a limit for how rightward we can lurch.
I’m more amazed by how much the center just collapsed
“I’m more amazed by how much the center just collapsed.”
Yes, that too. :(
Because I always figured the center would be the brake against extremist, but it wasn’t. Nor was it in Berlin in 1933.
“I’m still waiting to see when Keith says, enough. Amazingly haven’t gotten there yet.”
David, “enough” of the fake alarmism, you aren’t going to end up in a Gulag. There I said it.
Been brushing up on my history. Reading Solzhenitsyn. Must say his 22 or so forms of torture are kind of terrifying in context.
Perhaps he’ll end up in a “Stalag”, where he’ll make a mockery of the Germans. (Though it seemed that they always suspected that Hogan was up to something – other than the videos he created after the show was over.)
“Reading Solzhenitsyn. Must say his 22 or so forms of torture are kind of terrifying in context.”
You sound like a fun guy.
I will say Solovetsky looks surprising serene
Another right wing leaning whiner.
Boo. Hoo. Hoo.
I will tote up my 25+ years of community service (including in education, feeding people, and mental health services) against anything you fascist fluffers have done.
Now cry some more.
KS say: “my 25+ years of community service (including in education, feeding people, and mental health services)”
Humble brag!
Oh wait, that wasn’t humble. Just shouting to the world: “I’m a good person, look at me”
“fascist fluffers”
Another day, another pejorative allowed on the Vanguard. As long as it’s against the big bad wolves.
Tupac?
I’m funny again! You asked . . .
“Tupac?”
Hur hur hur.
You’re *so* funny.
Cry harder.
Anything that I am is miles better than what you are, depicted here and in other forums in town in your own miserable words: a bully and a crap-flinging chaos monkey.
Getting called out in direct terms is a consequence of your own freedom of speech.
Ignore me if you don’t like it.
Or keep whining in a very unmanly way for David to protect you from the consequences of your own speech acts.