Tons of of not too long ago deported immigrants had been labeled as gang members regardless of having no felony histories.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s so-called “border czar,” has stated that nothing greater than the phrase of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent is required to show {that a} noncitizen residing within the U.S. is a gang member, and thus topic to deportation.
Trump signed an govt order earlier this 12 months asserting his proper to make use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants residing within the U.S. if they’re deemed by the administration to be violent gang members. Tons of of migrants have been deported on that foundation, despite the fact that an evaluation by CBS Information discovered that just about three-quarters of the folks despatched to a jail in El Salvador had no criminal record at all.
Those that have been deported have largely been denied their due process rights, which might have allowed them to argue in opposition to being indiscriminately labeled as a gang member by the administration.
In an interview with Axios that was published on Tuesday, Homan appeared to dismiss these issues, claiming, with out proof, that even these with no felony historical past are members of violent gangs.
“Individuals preserve saying they don’t have any felony historical past,” Homan remarked within the interview. “I’ve been doing regulation enforcement since 1984. Many gang members don’t have felony historical past. It’s greater than felony historical past.”
The border czar urged that ICE was performing “deep dive” investigations on migrants, together with taking a look at social media and counting on info from informants, in addition to participating in different surveillance strategies. However finally, he stated, if an ICE agent suspected somebody of being in a gang, that was all of the proof wanted.
“ICE is the principal arbiter” in making these determinations, Homan stated.
That line of reasoning denies immigrants, together with those that are licensed to reside within the U.S., their due course of rights, which are protected under the Constitution.
Immigration advocates have sounded the alarm over Homan’s assertion, noting a number of current circumstances with troubling outcomes. In a single instance, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a lawful resident residing together with his spouse and youngster in Maryland, was wrongly deported alongside the supposed Venezuelan gang members despatched to El Salvador. The Trump administration has even admitted in court docket filings that Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error,” although they don’t consider they need to return him to the U.S.
“Gangs” aren’t the one justification for deportations with out due course of by the Trump administration — harboring pro-Palestine viewpoints can be getting used as a justification. In one other instance, Turkish nationwide Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD scholar at Tufts College, was abducted by plainclothes agents this month who didn’t determine themselves to her. As a result of Ozturk had beforehand written an op-ed opposing Israel’s genocide in Palestine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio falsely accused her of participating in acts of vandalism and harassment of Jewish college students.
Mahmoud Khalil, a former scholar at Columbia College who helped manage scholar encampments for divestment from Israel, was also abducted by ICE agents and has reportedly had his green card revoked over his activism.
Marc Van Der Hout, one in all Khalil’s attorneys, recently told Truthout’s Marjorie Cohn that what is occurring to those people and others is paying homage to one other darkish chapter in U.S. historical past.
“That is the McCarthy period once more,” Van Der Hout stated.
“What the Trump administration is trying to do to Mahmoud is actually outrageous,” Van Der Hout added. “The supply of regulation that the federal government is making an attempt to make use of to deport Mahmoud, a authorized everlasting resident of this nation, is just about unprecedented on this context.”
Offended, shocked, overwhelmed? Take motion: Help unbiased media.
We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the past months, every govt order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core a part of a method to make the right-wing flip really feel inevitable and overwhelming. However, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to recollect in Truthout final November, “Collectively, we’re extra highly effective than Trump.”
Certainly, the Trump administration is pushing via govt orders, however — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in authorized limbo and face court docket challenges from unions and civil rights teams. Efforts to quash anti-racist educating and DEI packages are stalled by schooling college, workers, and college students refusing to conform. And communities throughout the nation are coming collectively to boost the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and defend one another in transferring exhibits of solidarity.
It is going to be a protracted combat forward. And as nonprofit motion media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
As we undertake this life-sustaining work, we attraction on your help. Please, for those who discover worth in what we do, be a part of our group of sustainers by making a month-to-month or one-time present.
Source link