Latest news with #HabeasCorpus
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Opinion - Immigration's twisted new reality is beneath America
Although it sounds like the premise for an absurdist sitcom or a dystopian novel, it seems that the Department of Homeland Security has actually considered participating in a reality show where 'legal immigrants' would compete for a fast track to U.S. citizenship. It took Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem nearly a week to deny the reports. Contradicting agency spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, who told Fox News that it 'may be a good idea' for reviving 'patriotism and civic duty,' Noem told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security that 'there are no plans whatsoever to do a reality show.' That is probably just as well, because it isn't clear that Noem herself could pass a civics test, given her bizarre assertion in Senate testimony that President Donald Trump has the right to suspend Habeas Corpus 'to remove people from this country.' According to the Wall Street Journal, the reality show pitch came from Rob Worsoff, a producer of 'Duck Dynasty.' He explained that the show would be a 'celebration' of what it means to be an American citizen, in which contestants 'compete in various contests, including potentially on American history and science.' The winners would have their citizenship applications expedited — ideally sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol — but the losers would not be deported or otherwise penalized a la 'The Hunger Games.' The various challenges in Worsoff's pitch, as outlined in a 36-slide deck, include such quintessentially American activities as gold mining and automobile assembly, while the contestants travel cross-country. The competition would have kicked off at Ellis Island, where no immigrants have entered the U.S. since 1943. Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a department of Homeland Security, still administers an actual civics examination as part of the naturalization process. Applicants are asked 10 questions, chosen by an examiner from a list of 100, with a passing score of six correct answers. Citizenship and Immigration also provides a study guide with approved answers (while noting that other responses might perhaps be acceptable, at the discretion of the examiner). The objective is to test the aspiring citizen's knowledge of U.S. civics, history and government, but Republican presidential administrations have repeatedly revised and politicized both the questions and the published set of approved answers. During the George W. Bush administration, for example, the test asked applicants to name an 'inalienable right.' Predictably, one of the approved answers was the right to bear arms, which could always be removed, that is, alienated, from convicted felons and domestic abusers. The first Donald Trump administration was worse. The battery of 10 questions was increased to 20 (from a set of 128), with 12 required to pass, making it incrementally harder to obtain citizenship. Under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, correct answers were provided to the questions about congressional representation. Senators represent 'all the people of the state,' and members of Congress represent 'all the people of their district.' In Trump's first term, however, those answers were altered, wrongly, to say that senators and House members represent only 'citizens' — again seeking to marginalize immigrants, despite the Constitution's requirement of apportionment according to an 'actual enumeration' of 'persons' in the various states. The correct answers were restored under President Joe Biden, and the number of questions to each applicant went back to 10, with a passing score of six. Neither correction has yet been reversed by Noem or Trump, but there is no telling what is in the works. There is one aspect of the citizenship test, unchanged from administration to administration, that must surely please the Trump administration. One question on the current test, which has appeared in some form since at least the Bush II presidency, asks for 'two rights of everyone living in the United States,' with only the following recommended answers in the study guide: freedom of expression; freedom of speech; freedom of assembly; freedom to petition the government; freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms. Conspicuously missing from the answer list are the rights to counsel, due process, equal protection and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or unreasonable search and seizure. An applicant who identified one of those rights would risk being marked wrong, although they are plainly found in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments. Most ominously, or perhaps providentially from Noem's perspective, there is also no mention of Habeas Corpus, the right to challenge one's incarceration before a judge. Habeas Corpus, also called 'the Great Writ,' is guaranteed in Article I, making it the only individual right found in the original body of the Constitution. It can only be suspended by Congress, not the president, in cases of 'rebellion or invasion.' Habeas Corpus provides the ultimate protection against arbitrary imprisonment. Without it, there could be no meaningful rights at all against an oppressive government. In times like these, that is something both migrants and citizens ought to know about. Because we are not living in a reality show. Steven Lubet is the Williams Memorial Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law. He is the author of 'The Trials of Rasmea Odeh: How a Palestinian Guerrilla Gained and Lost U.S. Citizenship.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Immigration's twisted new reality is beneath America
Although it sounds like the premise for an absurdist sitcom or a dystopian novel, it seems that the Department of Homeland Security has actually considered participating in a reality show where 'legal immigrants' would compete for a fast track to U.S. citizenship. It took Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem nearly a week to deny the reports. Contradicting agency spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, who told Fox News that it 'may be a good idea' for reviving 'patriotism and civic duty,' Noem told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security that 'there are no plans whatsoever to do a reality show.' That is probably just as well, because it isn't clear that Noem herself could pass a civics test, given her bizarre assertion in Senate testimony that President Donald Trump has the right to suspend Habeas Corpus 'to remove people from this country.' According to the Wall Street Journal, the reality show pitch came from Rob Worsoff, a producer of 'Duck Dynasty.' He explained that the show would be a 'celebration' of what it means to be an American citizen, in which contestants 'compete in various contests, including potentially on American history and science.' The winners would have their citizenship applications expedited — ideally sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol — but the losers would not be deported or otherwise penalized a la 'The Hunger Games.' The various challenges in Worsoff's pitch, as outlined in a 36-slide deck, include such quintessentially American activities as gold mining and automobile assembly, while the contestants travel cross-country. The competition would have kicked off at Ellis Island, where no immigrants have entered the U.S. since 1943. Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a department of Homeland Security, still administers an actual civics examination as part of the naturalization process. Applicants are asked 10 questions, chosen by an examiner from a list of 100, with a passing score of six correct answers. Citizenship and Immigration also provides a study guide with approved answers (while noting that other responses might perhaps be acceptable, at the discretion of the examiner). The objective is to test the aspiring citizen's knowledge of U.S. civics, history and government, but Republican presidential administrations have repeatedly revised and politicized both the questions and the published set of approved answers. During the George W. Bush administration, for example, the test asked applicants to name an 'inalienable right.' Predictably, one of the approved answers was the right to bear arms, which could always be removed, that is, alienated, from convicted felons and domestic abusers. The first Donald Trump administration was worse. The battery of 10 questions was increased to 20 (from a set of 128), with 12 required to pass, making it incrementally harder to obtain citizenship. Under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, correct answers were provided to the questions about congressional representation. Senators represent 'all the people of the state,' and members of Congress represent 'all the people of their district.' In Trump's first term, however, those answers were altered, wrongly, to say that senators and House members represent only 'citizens' — again seeking to marginalize immigrants, despite the Constitution's requirement of apportionment according to an 'actual enumeration' of 'persons' in the various states. The correct answers were restored under President Joe Biden, and the number of questions to each applicant went back to 10, with a passing score of six. Neither correction has yet been reversed by Noem or Trump, but there is no telling what is in the works. There is one aspect of the citizenship test, unchanged from administration to administration, that must surely please the Trump administration. One question on the current test, which has appeared in some form since at least the Bush II presidency, asks for 'two rights of everyone living in the United States,' with only the following recommended answers in the study guide: Conspicuously missing from the answer list are the rights to counsel, due process, equal protection and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or unreasonable search and seizure. An applicant who identified one of those rights would risk being marked wrong, although they are plainly found in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and 14th Amendments. Most ominously, or perhaps providentially from Noem's perspective, there is also no mention of Habeas Corpus, the right to challenge one's incarceration before a judge. Habeas Corpus, also called 'the Great Writ,' is guaranteed in Article I, making it the only individual right found in the original body of the Constitution. It can only be suspended by Congress, not the president, in cases of 'rebellion or invasion.' Habeas Corpus provides the ultimate protection against arbitrary imprisonment. Without it, there could be no meaningful rights at all against an oppressive government. In times like these, that is something both migrants and citizens ought to know about. Because we are not living in a reality show. Steven Lubet is the Williams Memorial Professor at the Northwestern University School of Law. He is the author of 'The Trials of Rasmea Odeh: How a Palestinian Guerrilla Gained and Lost U.S. Citizenship.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Is Trump undermining the Constitution to deport faster?
Is the United States being 'invaded' by migrants who crossed the border illegally? Since President Donald Trump entered the White House in January, the number of illegal border crossings has hit historic lows and the border is now considered secure. But now many of the president's closest advisers —and Trump himself— have turned their focus to trying to deport immigrants already in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has said every person in the U.S. must have due process, frustrating the administration's hopes to deport people without court hearings. So, the administration is adjusting its approach by considering suspending the writ of habeas corpus. The phrase is Latin for 'that you have the body,' and is a protection under the U.S. Constitution that allows a person to contest the legality of their arrest or imprisonment, long considered foundational to individual liberty in the United States. Suspension of habeas corpus has only formally occurred four times in U.S. history, and while there have been other instances where it was effectively denied, like Japanese internment during WWII, the cases are still rare. As currently interpreted by the courts, the president cannot act alone to suspend habeas corpus — Congress has to authorize a suspension. The word 'invasion' has been used by Trump advisers and supporters to describe the unprecedented number of migrants who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. During her testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee recently, Secretary Kristi Noem said it's easier to enter the U.S. than be deported from it. 'When you have a president (Biden) in the White House that is openly saying our laws won't be enforced, and facilitating this invasion that happened over our southern border, we had millions of people come,' she said. 'And not just people looking for new opportunities in the American dream, you had people coming that were criminals, murderers, rapists, traffickers, terrorists —and now to remove them is much more complicated, difficult, and expensive.' 'For us to deport someone, that we have to go out and find that individual, arrest and detain them and remove them from the country, it costs upwards of $17,000.' It's hard to know exactly how many migrants are in the country illegally, but estimates put the number at around 13.7 million in mid-2023, an increase of 900,000 from 2022's estimate of 12.8 million. The Trump administration is working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state and local police to try to bring that number down. So far ICE has deported thousands of suspected international gang members via the Alien Enemies Act, ended protected legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and even offered a $1,000 stipend and free travel for those who 'self-deport.' Combatting illegal immigration was one of Trump's most popular policies during his presidential race last year. But the Trump administration has been accused of trampling on people's rights as they've hurried migrants out of the country, and voters seem wary of the president's tactics. The White House has touted the success of Trump's immigration policies, as the rate of people entering the country has slowed significantly. But do the American people believe he's gone too far? A month ago, Trump told the press in the Oval Office that granting due process to every migrant who entered the country illegally under the Biden administration is virtually impossible. 'You can't have a trial for all of these people,' he said. 'It wasn't meant — the system wasn't meant — and we don't think there's anything that says that." Trump argued that the number of migrants coming into the country illegally over the last four years has been unprecedented, and because of that, unprecedented measures must be taken. However, the majority of Americans believe everyone should have the right to defend themselves from deportation, according to a Bullfinch Group and National Immigration Forum survey of 1,200 adults, including 1,000 registered voters. Of those surveyed, 63% believed the language in the Constitution, 'No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,' applied to everyone facing deportation, while 23% disagreed and 14% were unsure. 'Due process is essential to keeping American communities safe and immigration processes orderly,' said Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum in a press release announcing the results of the survey. 'This bedrock American value protects all of us. Americans do not want our immigration system to undermine the rule of law.' Since Trump retook the White House, immigration attorney Kate Barber told the Deseret News that many of her clients, even naturalized citizens, fear they will be detained by ICE and deported with no due process granted under the Fifth Amendment, despite the courts ruling in their favor. She tells her clients not to give up on their constitutional protections, 'because they are not going to help you immediately,' Barber said, emphasizing that making people understand that is vital. 'The bad thing that's going down is probably going to continue to happen. If you're under arrest by ICE, even if it's unlawful, ... you're going to get detained, you're going to be in immigration jail until everything can get sorted out,' she said, 'but having the courage to stand up and exercise those rights is indispensable, because we can't set things right unless you try and exercise those rights.' Before people leave their homes to make the trek back to their home countries, she said she wants them to understand something. 'We're not an Ellis Island country anymore,' she said. 'You can't just show up somewhere and ask to be let in.'
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
ICE Barbie Kristi Noem goes viral after bizarre flub that should 'disqualify' her from Trump's Cabinet
Online critics are lambasting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for flubbing the definition of the latin legal term 'Habeas Corpus' at a congressional hearing on Tuesday. Even worse, however, is that the DHS head provided a completely inaccurate definition for the phrase. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) questioned Noem on the meaning of Habeas Corpus, which is the legal principle ensuring those in the U.S. court system have the right to challenge the legality of their detention. Essentially, it protects people from being detained and held in custody without a valid legal reason – even if they are not an American citizen. 'Secretary Noem, what is Habeas Corpus?' Hassan asked the DHS Secretary. 'Well Habeas Corpus is a constitutional right that allows the president to remove people from the country, suspend their right to –' Noem began before she was cut off by the Democratic senator. 'Let me stop you, ma'am. Excuse me, that's incorrect.' But Noem, who was on Capitol Hill for testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, went on to insist that presidents do have the right to suspend Habeas Corpus. 'Secretary Noem was right: Presidents have suspended habeas corpus in practice—Lincoln, Grant, FDR, and Bush—all during moments of crisis,' DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Mail when asked about the interaction. She added: 'Technically, Congress holds that power under the Constitution, but in reality, presidents have acted first, and legal authority followed. The precedent is real.' Social media critics jumped on the flub. 'Kristi Noem just confused habeas corpus; the right to challenge unlawful detention, with deportation powers,' one wrote. They added: 'This isn't a slip-up. It's a governor who can't define basic constitutional rights. And wants to wield power without understanding it.' And another said that Noem 'has no f-cking clue what habeas corpus means.' 'We are living in the dumbest of times,' they posted to X on Tuesday. Hassan explained that the protection ensures that the U.S. government cannot arrest people and hold them indefinitely. Instead, they have to provide a public reason for why an individual is being imprisoned. 'Habeas Corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea,' Hassan went on. 'Do you support the core protection that Habeas Corpus provides – that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?' Noem replied: 'I support Habeas Corpus. I also recognized that the President of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.' Hassan pushed back, claiming that it needs congressional approval.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Judge Resentences Erik and Lyle Menendez, Making Brothers Eligible for Parole — and Possible Freedom
A judge has ruled that the Menendez brothers, who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents, can be resentenced, paving the way for the brothers to go free, according to reports by Fox 11 Los Angeles, NBC News and ABC 10 San Diego. Lyle, now 57, and Erik, now 54, were sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the den of their Beverly Hills, Calif., home on Aug. 20, 1989. The killings, according to the brothers, came after years of sexual abuse by Jose — abuse which they claimed was ignored by their mother. Prosecutors at the time said the two brothers' motive was greed and cited their lavish spending spree after the slayings. But in the decades since, Lyle and Erik have maintained that they feared for their lives and that Jose had threatened to kill them if they told anyone about the sexual abuse. Many members of Lyle and Erik's family have openly supported their bid for release, including their maternal aunt Joan VanderMolen. Family members supported the brothers' bid for release by testifying at their re-sentencing hearing. The case re-emergered in May 2023 when the brothers' lawyers filed a Habeas Corpus petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking a new trial based on new evidence. The evidence includes a letter Erik wrote eight months before the murders including mentions of the alleged molestation and Roy Rosselló's claims that he was drugged and raped by José in the 1980s. By October 2024, the brothers had the support of then-Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, who formally recommended that the brothers each be resentenced to 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole. However, Gascón lost the November election to Hochman, who then withdrew his predecessor's resentencing recommendation. Related: Menendez Family Reveals Erik and Lyle's Mindset as the Brothers Await Their Last Chance for Freedom (Exclusive) Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Hochman has tried to argue that the brothers have not taken full responsibility for their crimes and accused them of telling "lies" for the "past 30 years," per a press conference last fall. As far as clemency, Governor Gavin Newsom said his decision will not be made until after their final hearing. If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. Read the original article on People
