Trump’s Bold Claim: Deportation Without Fair Trial
Another day, another audacious statement from Donald Trump. Just a week after his administration was accused of “willfully disobeying” the Constitution, the president now asserts that he has the “right” to deport people without a fair trial.
US District Judge James E Boasberg pointed out that the Trump administration ignored direct orders to turn back planes carrying deportees to El Salvador. A case involving a Maryland man deported to El Salvador without a hearing had already drawn international attention.
When a reporter asked Trump this week if he was satisfied with the deportation rate, he replied, “You can’t hold trials for all these people. We’re dealing with some really bad folks here – killers, murderers, drug dealers. There are also the mentally ill. They emptied insane asylums and sent these people to our country, and we’re getting them out. A judge can’t just say, ‘No, you have to have a trial.'” Trump claimed, “If we’re not allowed to do what we’re entitled to, our country will become extremely dangerous.”
In America, as stated in the Constitution, every individual – whether a US citizen, visa holder, or undocumented immigrant – has the right to a fair trial. But historian and propaganda analyst Ian Garner told Metro that Trump’s latest remarks about deporting people without a fair trial are making America “highly authoritarian.”
Garner said, “What Trump is doing is creating an authoritarian system, where the judicial system is just for show. Look at the show trials in the 1930s as examples. Trump seems to be creating a world where the law doesn’t matter at all. In traditional authoritarian countries, the judicial system exists mainly for show.” He added, “Trump is saying we can’t have trials, creating a strange contradiction. In traditional authoritarianism, there’s a strong state and a strong – though often corrupt – judicial system.” According to Garner, this “strange contradiction” will force Trump and his supporters to face a tough question: “What’s the point of a government if it can’t even ensure a basic right like a fair trial?”
Shortly after taking office, Trump invoked a 1798 wartime law, alleging an “invasion” by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Even though a judge ordered planes carrying deportees to El Salvador to return to the US, hours later, El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele announced the deportees’ arrival. The planes have continued to deport alleged criminals without giving them the right to a fair trial. The Trump administration claims it didn’t violate any orders, arguing that the judge didn’t include the turnaround directive in the written order and that the planes had already left US airspace when the order was issued.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that those facing deportation must be given a chance to contest their removal before being deported.