Due process, or the concept that all people are innocent until proven guilty under law, is designed to sustain American democracy and protect US citizens. However, for individuals like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, this is not the case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forcibly removed Garcia from his home in Maryland on March 15 and deported him to a Terrorist Confinement Center in El Salvador without a trial. Sadly, Garcia is not the only one.
According to Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Monthly Update, over the past fiscal year, there have been more deportations than in any year since 2010. On top of this, the percentage of individuals processed for Expedited Removal, deportation without traditional procedures such as judicial review, has tripled in that time.
By removing these procedures, CBP directly violates the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the due process clauses, and in doing so takes power from the people.
These amendments state that a person cannot be denied life, liberty or property without due process of law. The 14th Amendment affirms that these laws apply to “any person within [America’s] jurisdiction,” including non-citizens.
President Donald Trump justifies the removal of people without judicial review by claiming they are “significant threats to national security and public safety.”
In Trump’s presidential action entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” he accuses immigrants of extreme violence and holding criminal records. They are “committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans,” Trump said.
This statement was disputed by ICE official Robert Cerna, who claimed in a declaration on March 17 that many individuals being deported for gang association or suspected violence “do not have criminal records in the United States.”
According to Cerna, the lack of a criminal record proves that these individuals are a threat to national safety. “It demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile,” Cerna said.
Cerna is claiming that these individuals who are being deported, not only are deprived of the opportunity to receive a fair trial, but they are also being held without sufficient evidence of any crime.
ICE officials are arresting based on speculation and association with other alleged criminals rather than an individual’s own actions, showing complete disregard for due process.
It does not matter whether or not individuals like Garcia hold or do not hold citizenship or even criminal records.
The right to due process is reserved to all people in America, no matter past actions or character. Government officials such as Cerna and Trump should not be able to infringe these rights on a basis of speculation or assumption.
On April 4, Garcia’s case was brought before a Maryland court. Judge Paula Xinis said that Garcia’s deportation was inhumane and trapped him in a “facility that, by design, deprives its detainees of adequate food, water and shelter.”
The court ruled that Garcia was entitled to more than monetary compensation for the crimes against him.
Garcia’s case was presented again, this time to the Supreme Court on April 10. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor ruled that “the Government must comply with its obligation to provide Abrego Garcia with due process of law,” and entitled him to the right to face his accusers in court.
In other words, he must be returned from El Salvador.
Despite this ruling, as of May 5 Garcia, along with many other victims of expedited removal, remains imprisoned in El Salvador.