I’m concerned about what’s happening in our nation. While I agree “something” needed to be done about our borders and runaway immigration, I’m concerned about using a 1798 law against wartime enemies to remove people from within the U.S. borders without due process. More on that in a minute.
I’m all for stopping people trying to cross illegally into the U.S. and immediately returning them to the country from which they entered. In this scenario, we have not affected their lives in any immediate manner; they were in that country before coming here, now they’re back in that country. No harm, no foul. You want asylum? Apply before crossing the border.
But what about deporting people who are already here, without any due process? They’re here illegally, so they don’t deserve due process, right? But that’s a dangerous road to go down.
Besides declaring possible gang members as enemy invaders, this administration has refused entry to, and ordered to leave, people holding valid visas. These folks were vetted and approved to be in the U.S. for a purpose.
It’s important to understand why these visa and green card holders have been targeted. They are guilty of disagreeing with the U.S. handling of the crisis in Gaza.
In essence, this administration is doing everything it can to suppress and silence any dissent. The president has taken on the media, private individuals, law firms and universities. He’s taken on dissenters in the Republican Party, with Elon Musk promising to help fund the “primary-ing out” of any Republican members of Congress who don’t toe the line.
That brings us back our nation’s last bastion of defense – the court system. Our government was designed to have three equal branches of power, keeping a check on each other and each with specific functions. The court system was designed to be the arbiter of the legality, or constitutionality, of the actions taken by the other branches of government.
And calling into question the legality of this administration’s recent actions has brought swift attempts to throttle the courts as well. Take the case of Judge James Boasberg.
Judge Boasberg has tried to place an injunction on the administration’s deportations without due process. He has attempted to get information on EXACTLY who is being deported and why. The administration refuses to provide this information, alleging it does not have to provide the information. Judge Boasberg disagrees. This has resulted in President Trump calling him a “radical left lunatic judge,” and calling for his impeachment and disbarring. But is Judge Boasberg some sort of activist judge with an axe to grind? Those who know him and have worked around him say absolutely not. In fact, Judge Boasberg’s rulings in previous cases have paved the way for the release of some of Hilary Clinton’s emails, and prevented the release of President Trump’s tax returns. That doesn’t sound like a judge with a specific agenda to me.
But this isn’t just a random attack on a specific jurist. Today (March 25), House Speaker Mike Johnson made the public proclamation that Congress funds the federal courts, and Congress has the ability to eliminate federal district courts, if it wishes. Well, that’s not subtle.
So, why should the average American really care about these issues, these fights and what politicians are saying and doing far above our heads? Because, if the Trump administration prevails, and non-citizens can be deported to foreign prisons without any due process, you could be “disappeared.” But wait, you’re a citizen; you have rights, right? Well, no. As soon as the government identifies you as not being a citizen, you have no rights. No chance to present any evidence proving your citizenship. No opportunity to challenge why you were “snatched.”
But that’s OK, there’s no reason they would ever grab YOU off the street, right? RIGHT? Well, the administration says all the people flown to El Salvador and put in an El Salvadoran prison were “enemy combatants.” They’ve grabbed legal U.S. residents off the streets for being involved in Gaza protests.
How long before someone you know, or someone you love – a child, a grandchild – protests something else this administration doesn’t like? Could they be “disappeared”? In the America I know and love, no, never! But this administration is systematically dismantling all the guard rails.
Kevin Kuykendall
Valencia
