3 ways Trump's immigration crackdown could hit U.S. citizens
Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.
Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.
They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to dissenters.
Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:
1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.
This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.
2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.
Some officials say U.S. citizens who criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing immigrants with "know your rights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.
3. Questioning the authority of court orders.
The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return Abrego Garcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.
Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a U.S. citizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.
A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
" If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"
What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.
" If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"
The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.
Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.
Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.
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