An attack on our democracy
Under this administration, immigration enforcement has run roughshod over rights that most Americans understand to be universal. The First Amendment to the Constitution enshrines freedom of speech as a fundamental right. Yet, the Trump administration revoked Rümeysa Öztürk’s student visa for writing an op-ed in her student paper criticizing her university’s policy toward Israel. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have engaged in unnecessary secrecy and even subterfuge to seize immigrants off the street. The Fifth Amendment says that no person can be “deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” Nevertheless, the Trump administration has sent hundreds of Venezuelan men to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a prison in El Salvador known as a “black hole,” based on secret, flimsy, and unchallengeable allegations that they are members of a gang trying to invade the United States.
Trump’s immigration agenda has served as the tip of the spear not only for attacks on the rights of individuals, but on the structure of constitutional government. This constitutional order is what structures our democracy, ensuring that elected leaders follow the law and respect separate divisions of authority. Power is intended to be spread between the state and federal governments and, at the federal level, across the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The administration has tested the limits of federalism, deploying the California National Guard without the consent of its governor and against U.S. citizens engaging in largely peaceful protests against this administration’s immigration enforcement. It has refused to spend money appropriated by Congress to fund refugee resettlement, provide lawyers to vulnerable children, and help cities and states absorb new arrivals without straining limited local resources. It has prosecuted both appointed and elected officials, including local judges and members of Congress, for allegedly interfering with ICE, and arrested advocates simply for observing ICE operations and immigration court proceedings. And when federal judges—including the Supreme Court itself—have attempted to rein in the administration, the response from the executive branch has been to attack the legitimacy of the judicial branch and the motives of individual judges. This article is shared by the American Immigration Council. Learn more at www.Americanimmigrationcouncil.com
