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Pete Buttigieg is warning the American people.
The former transportation secretary has serious concerns about the president's authoritarian actions.
Pete Buttigieg is raising the alarm about what he calls a “dangerous moment” for democracy, warning that President Donald Trump’s defiance of court orders and targeting of migrants without due process threatens the rule of law in America.
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In a video posted Thursday, the former transportation secretary said Americans are witnessing “what it looks like when the head of the government of the country we live in doesn’t think he has to obey the courts or the law.”
“This is a test of whether we’re actually a freedom-loving people,” Buttigieg said, urging viewers to speak out, protest, and pressure lawmakers. “This doesn’t have to be a one-way trip.”
Related: Gay Venezuelan asylum-seeker ‘disappeared’ to Salvadoran mega-prison under Trump order, Maddow reveals
Since returning to private life, Buttigieg has emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal critics. Now spending more time with his family in Michigan, the gay former Cabinet official has re-entered the national conversation with sharp commentary, viral videos, and pointed media appearances. He’s also rumored to be considering a run for president in 2028 after declining to run for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate and governor seats.
His remarks came amid a flurry of court orders and legal showdowns over the Trump administration’s controversial use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants without due process.
On Wednesday, Chief Judge James Boasberg of the D.C. District Court ruled there is “probable cause” to hold the federal government in criminal contempt after it deported Venezuelan migrants in defiance of his restraining order. One of those deported is 23-year-old Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan asylum-seeker who vanished into El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, which many are likening to a concentration camp.
Hernández Romero had passed his initial asylum screening and was awaiting a court date when ICE flagged his “Mom” and “Dad” tattoos as gang-affiliated — a claim his lawyer called “baseless.” “He told guards, ‘I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a stylist,’” attorney Lindsay Toczylowski said on 60 Minutes.
Related: Trump and El Salvador’s president attack transgender people during White House meeting
In Maryland, Judge Paula Xinis ordered top Homeland Security and ICE officials to sit for depositions about their failure to comply with her ruling to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father who was wrongfully deported and sent to CECOT in March. She scolded the Trump administration for providing “nothing of value” in response to her order.
At the White House, Trump and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele mocked transgender women in sports while ignoring court orders. “Do you allow men to box your women?” Trump asked Bukele, who replied, “That’s violence.”
Trump then suggested he’d like to expand deportations to include U.S. citizens, saying “homegrowns are next.”
