What Trump's Immigration Policy Threatens US Citizens

The Trump administration's immigration crackdown is expanding. Not only immigrants, but also anyone who criticizes the policies of the 47th US president could be charged and deported, reports Axios.

This is the opinion about the current strategy Trump many officials believe that U.S. citizens could be harmed by a growing number of tactics the current White House chief is using to improve national security.

These tactics are sure to spark new legal battles over how far the team can go. Trump in combating illegal immigration and responding to dissent.

On the subject: Know Your Rights: New York City Holds Classes for Illegals Who Fear Deportation

Legal analysts have highlighted tactics by the current administration that could challenge Americans' rights.

Sending convicted US citizens to prisons abroad

The administration of the 47th president has reached an agreement with the Salvadoran government to place about 300 suspected members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang in prison.

Washington to pay El Salvador $6 million for one year of keeping bandits. Trump proposed sending American citizens convicted of violent crimes to El Salvador.

He also specified that they would be sent to the CESOT prison. This penitentiary has been criticized for its harsh conditions. It is already used for prisoners deported from the United States. According to Trump, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele "will have to build five more of these places" to accommodate the new prisoners.

"We always have to follow the law," Trump said, "but we also have criminals who kill people on the subway, who beat old women over the head... I would like to include them in the group of people who need to be removed from the country."

Trump's proposal has drawn a storm of criticism from advocates who call it unconstitutional.

Criticizing the administration's policies is dangerous

Some officials say U.S. citizens who criticize Trump administration policies could be charged with aiding terrorists and criminals.

"Aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," said White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka.

Trump’s team also questioned the legality of civic groups providing “Know Your Rights” training to immigrants on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that the classes help people avoid law enforcement.

“They are trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and their political activism. It’s authoritarian,” said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.

Ignoring court orders

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was legally in the United States. A court order prevented him from being deported back to El Salvador. But he was deported anyway. The administration is now actively fighting his return, raising questions about how far the Trump team will go to circumvent court orders.

The White House says the decision to return Abrego Garcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "enforce" it.

Advocates fear the confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a U.S. citizen to a foreign prison and then claim the person cannot be returned.

A federal judge highlighted this problem in the Abrego Garcia case.

"If the executive branch today claims the power to deport without due process and in defiance of judicial orders, what assurance does it have tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then absolve itself of responsibility for returning them home?" wrote Justice Harvey Wilkinson III.

“And what guarantees are there that the executive branch will not use its broad discretionary powers against its political opponents?” he added.

Michelle Brun, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoes Wilkinson:

"If they can send a non-citizen to jail in El Salvador without due process... would a US citizen be safer?"

Officials argue that they have an electoral mandate to more strictly enforce immigration laws, and that opposing their policies goes against the will of voters.

U.S. citizens have been wrongly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including in Arizona and Florida this month.

“People understand that this will impact all communities,” Talbott concluded. “If one citizen can be detained, then any one of us can be detained and prosecuted, or labeled a terrorist, or even sent to a foreign prison.”