Michael Kagan
@michaelgkagan.bsky.social
UNLV Immigration Clinic Director | Bagel expert | Private chef to my kids | Vegas law prof | Mets fan | Frequent typo writer | Speaking for myself only. Obv. | https://behindtheborder.substack.com
Pinned
Michael Kagan
@michaelgkagan.bsky.social
· Aug 18
The Battle To Stay in America
Now out in paperback, with a new afterword
open.substack.com
My book, with a new afterword reflecting on COVID, the Biden years and the return of Trump, is out in paperback. Get your copy.
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
Reposted by Michael Kagan
This is the exercise of the Article II protective power to defend federal officers exercising an arrest warrant.
January 4, 2026 at 8:50 AM
This is the exercise of the Article II protective power to defend federal officers exercising an arrest warrant.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
The University will no longer be teaching the Course: History of U.S. Imperialism. We have fired the instructor.
However, you can gain valuable experience in the subject through our oil company internship program.
#Satire
However, you can gain valuable experience in the subject through our oil company internship program.
#Satire
January 4, 2026 at 1:57 AM
The University will no longer be teaching the Course: History of U.S. Imperialism. We have fired the instructor.
However, you can gain valuable experience in the subject through our oil company internship program.
#Satire
However, you can gain valuable experience in the subject through our oil company internship program.
#Satire
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Just so we understand: This administration wants to prosecute foreign heads of state in US court but claims that President Trump himself is immune from prosecution in those same courts. This is authoritarianism, plain and simple.
January 4, 2026 at 2:19 AM
Just so we understand: This administration wants to prosecute foreign heads of state in US court but claims that President Trump himself is immune from prosecution in those same courts. This is authoritarianism, plain and simple.
@stevevladeck.bsky.social has some relevant thoughts. His section on potential Maduro defenses to criminal prosecution (yes, he has some) is especially interesting.
"If we hadn’t already, we’ve unquestionably joined the league of ordinary nations—a league in which we’re acting as little more than a bully, and in circumstances in which no obvious principle of self-defense, human rights, or even humantarianism writ large justifies our bellicosity."
Me on Maduro:
Me on Maduro:
200. Five Questions About the Maduro Arrest Operation
Friday night's U.S. military operation in Venezuela was a textbook violation of international law. It's also entirely unauthorized by U.S. law, which ought to (but probably won't) matter.
www.stevevladeck.com
January 4, 2026 at 12:41 AM
@stevevladeck.bsky.social has some relevant thoughts. His section on potential Maduro defenses to criminal prosecution (yes, he has some) is especially interesting.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
"But Wiles conceded that attacking targets on Venezuela’s mainland would force Trump to get congressional approval. 'If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.'"
- WH Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Nov 2, 2025 interview
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
- WH Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Nov 2, 2025 interview
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
Trump’s Inner Circle, On the Record (Part 2 of 2)
Susie Wiles discusses the Epstein files, Pete Hegseth’s war tactics, and “retribution” against Letitia James.
www.vanityfair.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:35 PM
"But Wiles conceded that attacking targets on Venezuela’s mainland would force Trump to get congressional approval. 'If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress.'"
- WH Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Nov 2, 2025 interview
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
- WH Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Nov 2, 2025 interview
www.vanityfair.com/news/story/t...
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]
January 4, 2026 at 12:02 AM
Jack writes--correctly--that the military abduction and extraction of Maduro "pretty clearly isn’t" legal. It plainly violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which is the supreme law of the United States (per Art. VI of the Constitution) and, as I've explained elsewhere, ... [1]
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Is this the personal liberties or the free markets
The Washington Post editorial board comes out in favor of the Venezuela attack/operation to capture Maduro
January 3, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Is this the personal liberties or the free markets
Are universities going to sanction faculty for being insufficiently respectful to the US assault on Venezuela?
Sorry. I mean the U.S. conducting a routine lawful arrest in Caracas, obviously.
Sorry. I mean the U.S. conducting a routine lawful arrest in Caracas, obviously.
January 3, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Are universities going to sanction faculty for being insufficiently respectful to the US assault on Venezuela?
Sorry. I mean the U.S. conducting a routine lawful arrest in Caracas, obviously.
Sorry. I mean the U.S. conducting a routine lawful arrest in Caracas, obviously.
From the Nuremberg Charter.
January 3, 2026 at 10:32 PM
From the Nuremberg Charter.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
One of his prosecutors was Emil Bove, who Trump appointed to the DOJ and then the federal judiciary.
Q: “You said Maduro is responsible for drug trafficking. You recently pardoned the former president of Honduras convicted of drug trafficking. Can you explain?”
TRUMP: “He was persecuted very unfairly.” 🤷🏼
TRUMP: “He was persecuted very unfairly.” 🤷🏼
January 3, 2026 at 10:12 PM
One of his prosecutors was Emil Bove, who Trump appointed to the DOJ and then the federal judiciary.
Does John Roberts think President Maduro has immunity?
(asking only half-seriously for a friend)
(asking only half-seriously for a friend)
January 3, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Does John Roberts think President Maduro has immunity?
(asking only half-seriously for a friend)
(asking only half-seriously for a friend)
Am I getting this right? The current legal position of the United States is that we can’t indict our own president or ex-president for crimes, but we can indict and arrest presidents of other countries for crimes. …
January 3, 2026 at 10:05 PM
Am I getting this right? The current legal position of the United States is that we can’t indict our own president or ex-president for crimes, but we can indict and arrest presidents of other countries for crimes. …
Reposted by Michael Kagan
In his 2019 memoir The Threat, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe quotes first-term Trump saying Venezuela was “the country we should be going to war with, they have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”
zeteo.com/p/venezuela-...
zeteo.com/p/venezuela-...
Trump's Venezuela Attack: It’s All About the Oil, Stupid!
Here are five times Donald Trump himself admitted that illegally attacking Venezuela and toppling Nicolás Maduro was aimed at seizing the country’s massive oil reserves.
zeteo.com
January 3, 2026 at 1:53 PM
In his 2019 memoir The Threat, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe quotes first-term Trump saying Venezuela was “the country we should be going to war with, they have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”
zeteo.com/p/venezuela-...
zeteo.com/p/venezuela-...
Reposted by Michael Kagan
After a year in which Trump has bombed ...
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Iran
- Yemen
- Syria
- Somalia
- and civilian boats in international waters
... I’m thinking about the voters who convinced themselves that Trump was the candidate of foreign policy restraint.
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Iran
- Yemen
- Syria
- Somalia
- and civilian boats in international waters
... I’m thinking about the voters who convinced themselves that Trump was the candidate of foreign policy restraint.
January 3, 2026 at 2:06 PM
After a year in which Trump has bombed ...
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Iran
- Yemen
- Syria
- Somalia
- and civilian boats in international waters
... I’m thinking about the voters who convinced themselves that Trump was the candidate of foreign policy restraint.
- Venezuela
- Nigeria
- Iran
- Yemen
- Syria
- Somalia
- and civilian boats in international waters
... I’m thinking about the voters who convinced themselves that Trump was the candidate of foreign policy restraint.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Maduro is a brutal and oppressive dictator of Venezuela.
Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.
Both of those facts are simultaneously true.
Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.
Both of those facts are simultaneously true.
January 3, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Maduro is a brutal and oppressive dictator of Venezuela.
Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.
Both of those facts are simultaneously true.
Trump has no legitimate legal basis for military action against Venezuela under United States or international law.
Both of those facts are simultaneously true.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
What are we doing here?
BREAKING
President Trump says that the U.S. military has captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and that they have been flown out of the country.
President Trump says that the U.S. military has captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and that they have been flown out of the country.
January 3, 2026 at 9:29 AM
What are we doing here?
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
January 3, 2026 at 9:13 AM
I feel like I haven’t even been properly lied to about the purposes of this war
Important development for ICE/immigration enforcement in Vegas and the Southwest. www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-ice-...
Scoop: ICE Plans to Descend on Phoenix
Following L.A., Chicago, and Charlotte, DHS now intends to scale up arrests—and its network of detention facilities—in Maricopa County.
www.thebulwark.com
January 3, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Important development for ICE/immigration enforcement in Vegas and the Southwest. www.thebulwark.com/p/scoop-ice-...
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Trump being in the red on immigration is again, a five alarm fire for Republicans, especially those on the border. It’s a sign that people no longer associate immigration with crime or border security. This is THE issue for Trump alongside tariffs and people hate it.
Trump Net-Approval On Immigration:
⚪️ All: -7%
🔵 Democrats: -73%
⚪️ Independents: -21%
🔴 Republicans: +64%
🟠 MAGA Republicans: +85%
🟡 Non-MAGA Republicans: +34%
Navigator / Dec 8, 2025
⚪️ All: -7%
🔵 Democrats: -73%
⚪️ Independents: -21%
🔴 Republicans: +64%
🟠 MAGA Republicans: +85%
🟡 Non-MAGA Republicans: +34%
Navigator / Dec 8, 2025
January 3, 2026 at 5:18 AM
Trump being in the red on immigration is again, a five alarm fire for Republicans, especially those on the border. It’s a sign that people no longer associate immigration with crime or border security. This is THE issue for Trump alongside tariffs and people hate it.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Despite what we are often told, this line from Mamdani’s inauguration speech is what true pragmatism actually looks like:
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
January 1, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Despite what we are often told, this line from Mamdani’s inauguration speech is what true pragmatism actually looks like:
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.”
Lawyers matter.
BREAKING: After legal setbacks, President Trump says he's dropping push for the National Guard in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland for now.
Trump says he's dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now
President Donald Trump says he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
bit.ly
January 1, 2026 at 5:10 AM
Lawyers matter.
Reposted by Michael Kagan
Fascism is over, if you want it
January 1, 2026 at 4:42 AM
Fascism is over, if you want it
Reposted by Michael Kagan
We keep each other safe. 🩵
December 29, 2025 at 4:58 PM
We keep each other safe. 🩵
On Twitter, ICE thinks a lot about sex (crimes)
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
On Twitter, ICE thinks a lot about sex (crimes)
Analyzing the dark fantasy world of ICE social media
open.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:53 PM
On Twitter, ICE thinks a lot about sex (crimes)
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...
open.substack.com/pub/behindth...