Stephen Miller

Highest Trump aide Stephen Miller informed journalists on Friday that the administration is “looking at” how to finish due process rights for unauthorized residents who are already in the U.S.

“The Constitution is explicit, and that, of course, is the highest law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended during a time of invasion. So I would say that’s something we’re seriously considering,” Miller said in the White House driveway.

“A great deal of it will depend on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” Miller said.

The White House had no immediate response to a request for clarification on whether or not he was speaking of a particular group of individuals who’ve come in illegally, or all the individuals who have. It also had no comment on what he intended to say by the courts having “the right thing” to do.

During his comments, Miller asserted that the courts lack authority in immigration cases. “The courts aren’t only at war with the executive branch; the courts are at war, these radical rogue judges, with the legislative branch as well too. So all of that will inform the choices the president ultimately makes,” he explained.

President Donald Trump has consistently complained about constitutional due process protections hamstringing his efforts at mass deportations.

“I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me back from doing it,” he complained in an interview with Kristen Welker that aired Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Welker noted that the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states “no person” shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and that the Supreme Court has long considered that noncitizens do have some basic rights, but Trump griped that those protections are too time-consuming.
“I don’t know. It seems — it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials,” he said, adding that some of the people the administration wants to deport are “murderers” and “drug dealers.”

Welker then asked if he needs to uphold the Constitution.

“I don’t know,” Trump said. “I have to say by responding, again, I have great lawyers who work for me, and they are going to naturally follow what the Supreme Court said.”

The administration already bypassed due process in some deportation cases after Trump invoked the little-used Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a jail in El Salvador.

The announcement stated that the gang “is perpetrating, attempting, and threatening an invasion or predatory incursion upon the territory of the United States.” Three U.S. federal judges in several states have deemed the gang’s criminal activity are not equivalent to an invasion.

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