The Trump administration has taken the controversial step of pushing through new powers which will greatly speed up the deportation process. Previously, only people detained within 100 miles (160km) of the Mexico border who had been in the US for less than two weeks could be deported without access to the Courts. However, the new rules state that people can now be deported wherever they are found and no matter how long they have lived in the US. They will also no longer be allowed to consult with a Lawyer, which some are arguing is a breach of their rights.
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Undocumented Immigrants currently make up about 3.2% of the US population, but this number has been falling and in 2017, research by Pew indicated that unauthorized immigrant adults in the US had lived there for a median of 15.1 years. So around 5.25 million people who will have jobs, families and roots in the local community will now be looking over their shoulders.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has welcomed the new rules stating would allow it to pursue large numbers of illegal migrants more efficiently, and that it might make exceptions for people with serious medical conditions or substantial connections in the US, but with no access to a lawyer, this not easy to police. However, the big danger is that genuine citizens will be thrown as identified by Legal expert Jackie Stevens, a political science professor at Northwestern University, who told Reuters that his research indicated that about 1% of the people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and 0.5% of those deported were actually US citizens. And that is with access to the courts, what will happen when you have no due process?
Well according to Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, it could be a dangerous step stating:
“The Trump administration is moving forward into converting ICE into a ‘show me your papers’ militia.”
Expect the new powers to meet some stiff legal challenges.
