3 ways #Trump's #immigration #crackdown could hit #USCitizens

Brittany Gibson, Apr 23, 2025

"#Trump administration officials are suggesting their immigration crackdown could expand to include deporting convicted U.S. citizens and charging anyone — not just immigrants — who criticizes Trump's policies.

"Why it matters: Such moves — described by officials in recent days — would show how U.S. citizens could be impacted by the growing number of tactics President Trump is using to, in his view, improve national security.

"They'd also be certain to ignite new legal battles over how far Trump's team can go in fighting illegal immigration and responding to #dissenters.

"Zoom in: Here are three tactics the administration has teased that legal analysts say would challenge Americans' rights:

1. Sending convicted U.S. citizens to prisons abroad.

This has been floated as a spinoff of Trump's deal with El Salvador, where a high-security prison is holding about 300 U.S. immigration detainees that the administration says are suspected criminals and gang members.
"Homegrowns are next," Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele last week, referring to sending Americans convicted of crimes to serve time in foreign prisons.
"We always have to obey the laws," Trump said, "but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies over the head ... I'd like to include them in the group of people to get them out of the country."
Trump's suggestion — echoing a similar proposal Bukele made to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February — drew a storm of criticism from legal advocates, who called it unconstitutional.

2. Putting critics of the administration's policies in jeopardy.

Some officials say U.S. citizens who #criticize administration policies could be charged with crimes, based on the notion that they're aiding terrorists and criminals.
"You have to ask yourself, are they technically aiding and abetting them, because aiding and abetting criminals and terrorists is a crime," White House senior director for counterterrorism Seb Gorka said in an interview with Newsmax.
Trump's team also has questioned the legality of civic groups providing #immigrants with "#KnowYourRights" trainings on how to respond to federal agents. Border czar Tom Homan suggested that such seminars help people evade law enforcement.
"They're trying to use terrorism laws to attack people for their speech and for their political activism, and that's an authoritarian effort," said Kerri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, an immigration advocacy group.

3. Questioning the authority of court orders.

The administration's resistance to returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia — who was legally in the U.S. with an order not to be deported back to El Salvador, but deported to the prison there anyway — has raised questions about how far Trump's team can go in trying to skirt court orders.
The White House says the decision to return #AbregoGarcia rests with El Salvador because the U.S. Supreme Court told the administration only to "facilitate" his return, not "effectuate" it.

Advocates worry the resulting confusion has laid the groundwork for Trump's team to send a #USCitizen to a foreign prison, then claim that person couldn't be returned.

A federal judge raised this concern in Abrego Garcia's case.
"If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?" wrote Judge Harvie Wilkinson III.
"And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies?"

What they're saying: Michelle Brané, former executive director of the Biden administration's Family Reunification Task Force, echoed Wilkinson.

"If they can send a noncitizen to a prison in El Salvador without due process ... why would a U.S. citizen be safer?"

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment. But officials have argued that they have an electoral mandate for stricter immigration enforcement, and that opposition to their policies is against the will of voters.

Trump's handling of immigration polls well in public surveys.
But sending immigrants to El Salvador's prison without criminal convictions or due process does not — about 60% were opposed in a recent YouGov survey.

Between the lines: U.S. citizens have been mistakenly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) before, including cases this month in Arizona and Florida.

"People are realizing that this is going to impact all communities," Talbot said, "and that if one citizen can be picked up, then any of us can be picked up and put into proceedings, or labeled a #terrorist, or removed to a foreign prison."

Original article:
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-immigration-crackdown-us-citizens

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/wUUdG

#SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #CriminalizingDissent #USPol #DontQuestionBigBrother #Fascism #Authoritarianism #MemoryHoled #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #WaterDefenders #LandDefenders #Resisters #HumanRightsDefenders #IhrePapiereBitte #Fascism #Authoritarianism #Nazis #SecretPolice
#Disappeared #USCitizens #ICEDetention
#IllegalDeportations#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Deportations #Disappeared #MemoryHoled #NineteenEightyFour #DoublePlusUngood

#MonmothME #resists! #Monmouth #police department withdraws #ICE training application

Residents packed the Monmouth Board of Selectmen meeting Wednesday to speak out against the town's police department taking on the role of enforcing federal #immigration laws.

by Emily Duggan, Kennebec Journal, April 17, 2025

MONMOUTH — "After dozens of residents voiced opposition, the police department has withdrawn its application for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that allows local law enforcement agencies to work with the federal agency to enforce federal immigration laws.

"Police Chief Paul Ferland said he was seeking the training so his officers would know what to do if they come across people who are in the United States illegally.

"In the past year or so, Monmouth officers have called the U.S. Border Patrol about a dozen times, each time with questions about legal rights, when to detain someone and how to not violate someone’s constitutional rights.

"Each instance can take hours, Ferland said, as officers wait for federal agents to arrive from wherever they are stationed. Once the agents arrive, they check for the person’s immigration status and whether they may have an upcoming court date. If not, the officers can issue a date.

"The southwest Kennebec County town is home to a number of businesses, including #agricultural businesses that employ #migrant workers.

"Ferland announced the department’s withdrawal from the program Wednesday at the town’s Board of Selectmen meeting, which was packed with residents both in person and on Zoom who turned out mostly to speak against the move.

"Because Ferland is also the chief of the Winthrop Police Department, that town is also withdrawing, he said.
" 'When I saw how this is dividing the community, it’s not what I want. It’s not what our officers want. Our community is our community, it’s our home. The officers love their community, and we are not here to divide it. That is one of the reasons why I pulled the application. Not the only, but the biggest,' Ferland said.

"Following an executive order signed by President Donald #Trump, police departments from 38 states have applied to be a part of ICE’s 287 (g) program, including the #WellsPoliceDepartment, which according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement data is the only #Maine police agency that is currently taking part."

Original article:
https://www.centralmaine.com/2025/04/17/monmouth-police-department-withdraws-ice-training-application/

Archived version:
https://archive.md/FHBWe

#ACAB #ICEDetention #Deportations
#HumanRightsAbuses #USPol #MainePol #ICEDetentions #ResistICE #MonmouthMaineResists #MaineResists