President Donald Trump told the press in the Oval Office on Tuesday that granting a trial to every immigrant who entered the United States illegally under the Biden administration is virtually impossible.
“We’re getting them out, and I hope we get cooperation from the courts because you know, we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and 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," arguing that the number of immigrants coming into the country illegally over the last four years has been unprecedented, and because of that, unprecedented measures must be taken.
Prior to his Tuesday comments, he posted on social media Monday that “Biden let Millions of Criminals into our Country, totally unchecked and unvetted, with no Legal authority to do so, yet I, in order to make up for this assault to our Nation, am expected to go through a lengthy Legal process, separately, for each and every Criminal Alien. As usual, TWO DIFFERENT STANDARDS, only leading to the Complete and Total Destruction of the U.S.A.”
The Trump administration has faced significant legal challenges from federal court judges, issuing injunctions on a variety of policies since its inception in January, and its efforts against illegal immigration are no exception.
The latest barrier came on Saturday when the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the administration’s efforts to deport Venezuelans using the Alien Enemies Act as a justification for the immediate removal of apparent gang members.
In a separate social media post, Trump stated that he was executing what he had campaigned on and what the American people want.
“My team is fantastic, doing an incredible job, however, they are being stymied at every turn by even the U.S. Supreme Court, which I have such great respect for, but which seemingly doesn’t want me to send violent criminals and terrorists back to Venezuela, or any other Country, for that matter — People that came here illegally," he said.
He added, “If we don’t get these criminals out of our Country, we are not going to have a Country any longer. We cannot give everyone a trial, because to do so would take, without exaggeration, 200 years. We would need hundreds of thousands of trials for the hundreds of thousands of Illegals we are sending out of the Country. Such a thing is not possible to do. What a ridiculous situation we are in.”
Other barriers his legal team has faced while pursuing deportation tactics include the conflict surrounding alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, who was deported to an El Salvador mega-prison in what the White House admitted was an “administrative error,” and the executive order denying birthright citizenship for children born to migrants temporarily or illegally in the United States, which will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15.
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” told reporters Wednesday morning that the U.S. is safer today because of the administration’s actions against illegal immigration.
“I looked at numbers today. We’re about 68,000 illegal aliens arrested in the interior United States. ... They want to say our administration is inhumane, we’re not giving due process. We’re saving lives by the thousands. Every day,” he said.
On Tuesday, Trump emphasized that his office is targeting “killers, murderers, drug dealers (and) really bad people” in the country and that efforts to secure the border have been one of his “greatest successes” as “We have virtually nobody coming in illegally.”
Criminal or not, those who oppose him argue that not granting a person the right to a trial goes against the U.S. Constitution.
Illinois Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson posted on X that Trump’s comments in the Oval Office resemble those of a dictator.
“Due process isn’t optional because it’s inconvenient,” Jackson posted on X. “This is the United States, not a banana republic. If you want to shred the Constitution, just say so.”