Journalist Jesse Singal (New York, The New York Times, The Atlantic) and host of the podcast Blocked and Reported, criticized the Trump administration’s refusal to retrieve Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, the man whom the U.S. government mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran mega prison.
Vice President JD Vance responded to Singal and complained about Democrats and the mainstream media calling for “due process” for immigrants including Abrego-Garcia.
The Vice President wrote on X: “When the media and the far left obsess over an MS-13 gang member and demand that he be returned to the United States for a *third* deportation hearing, what they’re really saying is they want the vast majority of illegal aliens to stay here permanently.”
Singal replied: “Joining the Trump bandwagon means you either need to be dumb or pretend to be dumb. JD Vance might have mortgaged his morality and his legacy, but he’s not dumb. He doesn’t actually think anyone’s proposing 20 million trials. Rather, he knows he has very, very dumb supporters.”
Vice President JD Vance, a Yale Law School graduate, replied to Singal on X: “I hate this smug, self-assured bull [expletive]. ‘I know I’m right, and people must be dumb or immoral to disagree with me.’ It’s an easy way to go through life, because then you never have to think seriously about why your worldview is a justification for the mass invasion of the country my ancestors built with their bare hands.”
Joining the Trump bandwagon means you either need to be dumb or pretend to be dumb. JD Vance might have mortgaged his morality and his legacy, but he's not dumb. He doesn't actually think anyone's proposing 20 million trials. Rather, he knows he has very, very dumb supporters. https://t.co/M8PkhR4YPR
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) April 16, 2025
Vance added: “I’m not ‘OK with deporting innocent people’ any more than I’m ‘OK with sentencing innocent people.’ What I am OK with is the reality that any human system will produce errors. Further, I accept the actual tradeoff: between not enforcing the law and enforcing the law. And I choose the latter despite the inevitable errors. You are hiding behind ‘due process’ while ignoring that your actual solution means the ratification of a Biden border crisis that was rejected at the ballot box.”
More than one journalist slammed Vance’s notion of ‘jury hearings’ for immigrants including Leighton Woodhouse, who replied to Vance: “You’re well aware that immigration courts aren’t ‘jury hearings.’ They typically last a matter of minutes, often with no defense counsel present. You’re deliberately misleading people into believing we’d be burdened with millions of OJ Simpson trials instead of the rocket docket that immigration courts are.”
Vance replied to Woodhouse: “Are you aware that years before Biden’s migrant wave, this system was already overwhelmed? Now, you cavalierly assume that they can ‘rocket docket’ themselves into a solution despite all actual evidence to the contrary, because sometimes a deportation order can be handled in ‘minutes.’ I’m sick of abstract bull[expletive] arguments. What your proposal does, whether you know it or not, is ratify the presence of millions of illegals aliens in our country. I reject that.”
Yes I'm aware that before Biden the immigration courts were overwhelmed, because I went to those immigration courts in LA and reported on it during Trump's first term, when he was deporting a hell of a lot more people than he is now. Have you ever personally watched an…
— Leighton 明 Woodhouse (@lwoodhouse) April 16, 2025
Woodhouse, who directed the 2017 documentary Trumpland: Kill All Normies, replied: “Yes I’m aware that before Biden the immigration courts were overwhelmed, because I went to those immigration courts in LA and reported on it during Trump’s first term, when he was deporting a hell of a lot more people than he is now. Have you ever personally watched an immigration hearing, JD?
“What you’re literally arguing is that Trump’s electoral mandate is to ignore due process. That Americans voted for him to not follow the law. Let me ask you this, as a lawyer: If there’s no due process for illegal immigrants, how am I as a US citizen protected against your administration accusing me of being a foreign-born criminal and deporting me to El Salvador? Who am I going to show my US birth certificate to? Is the arresting ICE agent in effect my judge?”
Former New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki also replied to Vance: “Who’s talking about ‘jury trials’? Deportation hearings are quick and easy. The ‘judges’ aren’t even judges – they’re DOJ employees. Are you arguing that the govt shouldn’t even have to hold a hearing to establish that the person is who you say they are and is here illegally before deporting them?”
Who's talking about "jury trials"? Deportation hearings are quick and easy. The "judges" aren't even judges – they're DOJ employees. Are you arguing that the govt shouldn't even have to hold a hearing to establish that the person is who you say they are and is here illegally…
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) April 16, 2025
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo also replied to Vance: “You’re intentionally misleading people by claiming these are jury trials or involve juries in any way. Virtually all of them are quick proceedings in front of judges.”
After a lengthy exchange with Vance on X, Singal concluded: “I’ll wrap this up but when I say @JDVance needs to pretend to be dumb, what I mean is he can’t even answer basic questions like ‘Is Donald Trump eligible to seek a third term?’ Seriously — ask him! He is responding to half the people tweeting at him. See if he responds.”
Singal added: “I just want to be clear that if JD Vance has time to argue with three journalists (that I know of) on Twitter in one day he can certainly do a 30 minute podcast hit. He’s been on significantly more obscure podcasts than BARPod. I hope he makes the right decision.”
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