-Welcome back to the show.
As we remind ourselves, with ever increasing panic,
America is a country of laws.
But what does that mean?
Well, it's supposed to mean this can't
happen to legal residents.
I was questioned extensively about whether or not I knew
of radical groups in Sudan.
I was asked to share my social media handles.
It was a very uncomfortable pat down.
I was touched in my chest and groin area,
and then I was handcuffed briefly.
At that moment I felt like, OK, I'm
probably going to get deported.
She's a green card holder who went to Harvard.
But then again, Trump's whole political career
was built on demanding to see papers
from Harvard educated black people
with foreign sounding names.
Part of the reason El-Amin is able to get back
to her American dream of TA-ing too many classes
is that thousands of lawyers swooped in to help
people like her for free.
Almost as if they didn't have Saturday night plans.
I talked to one of these heroic freedom nerds
about exactly how scared we should be.
(SAM VOICEOVER) President Trump's Muslim ban drove me
back to my favorite place in New York
City for what was not supposed to be a recurring segment.
Hey, Julie D. (VOICEOVER) Bunker Talk.
I sat down with the ACLU's Lee Gelernt, who's a--
Civil rights lawyer.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): Doing his best Atticus Finch,
Lee spent his Saturday arguing against the Muslim ban in
federal court as key counsel.
I figured he'd be able to set the scene.
What the fuck is going on?
Lee, help me.
We find out on Friday night, four hours after he signed
the ban, people are arriving, and they're
not being let through.
These are people who were given lawful permission to come here.
So, you get on your plane, you pop an ambien,
you have a glass of wine, and you arrive at JFK to find out
that America has disappeared.
Exactly.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): This doctor
from Cleveland, this little boy, and this kid
with cancer were all denied entry to the US.
Thankfully, hunched over lawyers like these
dropped everything, camping out at airports around the country
to help.
If you're a civil rights lawyer,
you have to react quickly in a time like this.
So, Lee, you get the call, and you were like, this
is the shit I was born to do.
Right.
You scramble to try and get someone from the administration
on the phone.
They're completely unorganized, or they're
not taking our calls.
We say, let's file emergency state papers
in the federal court, and the judge
was very direct with the government
and said, tell me why you need, right now, to send
these people back to harm.
Tell me what the risk is to the government, given
that these people have been vetted for months and months
by our government.
Some even worked with our US military.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): Like Hamid Darwish,
who was an interpreter for the 101st Airborne
Division in Iraq.
How did the administration justify barring
this American-adjacent hero, who has undoubtedly
saved countless American lives?
The government came in and said, the president wants this,
and he should be allowed to do it.
So it sounds like the case that the government
was trying to make was along the lines of--
but I want it!
But you said if I was president, I could have it.
This sucks so much. Awful.
I hate this.
And your counter-argument was--
We said, that's the way the Constitution works.
Sorry.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): And Lee won.
Sort of.
The judge said, I am blocking this nationwide,
and give the plaintiffs a list of all the people nationwide
who were detained.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): Lee and the ACLU
were granted a stay, pausing the executive order, which
was poorly written, and probably signed without consultation
by-- [MUMBLING]?
I don't know, there's too many M's.
It feels like they've overstepped
so far that even when they step back,
they're still way off the cliff.
Mhm.
And that may be their strategy.
Even the pushback keeps us well beyond anything
any other administration has ever done.
And they are pushing the limits of the Constitution
beyond the breaking point.
So now would be a great time for all
those conservatives who are gay for the Constitution
to stand the fuck up?
We hope that happens, because we're talking
about the first time in the history
where the president said, I'm going to discriminate
between religions.
I don't even think the president
has read the Constitution.
Because he can't.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): But Lee sure can.
Which specific parts of the Constitution
have been violated?
Do we have a long time?
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): Not really.
It's the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments.
Right, Congress?
Ah, I forgot to mention Congress.
Congress should be a check, and I think
we're starting to see that.
You know, I think it remains to be seen
what Congress is going to do.
O my god.
Those cucks?
Nothing.
[CLUCKING] And what happens when federal agencies don't
uphold federal court orders?
We are trying to find out.
One of the problems is the government's
not sharing information.
We have heard people were sent back.
We don't know if it was right before the stay, right after.
What could happen if they don't comply with this order?
If they continue not to comply, then I
think the court will really press them,
but at the end of the day, the court
always has the power to hold the administration in contempt.
Tell me about the stakes here.
If a government agency intentionally did not
listen to a federal court order, that is as serious
as you can get in America.
What are the odds that this is really
just a last ditch effort to avoid actually being president?
Because I really feel like he is sprinting
toward impeachment here.
SAMANTHA (VOICEOVER): And lawyers like Lee
will be nipping at his heels the entire way.
I love you.
I love the work you're doing.
I think it's really important, but I really
want you to take this in.
Lee, if you come at the king, you best not miss.
Understand?
Got it.
Bunker Talk is fun.
We'll be right back.