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In an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press, President Donald Trump argued that his ambitious campaign promise to fulfill his ambitious campaign could take precedence over the promise of a rapid massive deportation, as per court demands, to immigrants have the right to a legitimate constitutional process.
The heart of Trump’s agenda is running the “largest deportation operation” in US history, as he vowed during his 2024 campaign. In service to that goal, his administration forced the court to allow the immediate removal of migrants accusing him of being members of a Venezuelan gang, without giving them the opportunity to sue their case before a judge.
In an interview with “Meet the Press” last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Of course.”
But Trump isn’t that sure.
“I don’t know. I’m not, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know,” Trump replied when he asked Kristen Welker, the “Meet the Press” moderator, if he agreed to Rubio. His comments came in a wide range of interviews at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which aired Sunday.
The fifth amendment to the Constitution states that “they are not deprived of life, liberty or property without a legitimate process of law.” It is not that a person must be a US citizen, and the Supreme Court has long recognized that non-citizens have certain fundamental rights. Trump also says, “We must always follow the law,” but he wants to see that some “his-in-law criminals” have also been sent to El Salvador.
When Welker tried to point out what the Fifth Amendment said, Trump suggested that such a process would slow him too slow.
“I don’t know. That might say, but if you’re talking about it, you’ll need a million or two or three million exams,” he said. “We have thousands of people. Some killers, drug dealers, and some of the worst people on the planet.”
“I’ve been elected to take them from here to hell and the courts are preventing me from doing that,” he added.
“But given the numbers you’re talking about, is there no need to maintain the US Constitution as president?” Welker asked.
“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “Again, I have to respond by saying that I have great lawyers who work for me. They are clearly going to follow what the Supreme Court said.”
The Supreme Court has already made clear to the Trump administration in three different recent decisions that migrants must grant the right to a basic due process, based on a long-standing understanding of the law.
As Trump suggested, it doesn’t require a full trial. What it needs is the opportunity to appear before an immigration judge. Such judges are not part of the judicial division. They are employees of the Department of Justice. The administrative authorities opposed such restrictions, leading to allegations that they ignored instructions from lower court judges and Supreme Courts.
One of the main key points is the novel invocation of the regime of the Alien Enemy Act, a law of 1798, to expel members of Venezuela gang Tren de Lagua. Although the law was previously only used during wartimes, the US government claims that gangs are invasive forces associated with the Venezuelan government to eliminate people to use the power of the law without passing the process set out in other laws, such as the immigration law. But the effort faces severe opposition.
Men facing deportation under the law say they have no opportunity to fight even gang members, leading to two different Supreme Court decisions, preventing the administration from sending them to prison without a legitimate process. One decision came early on April 19th after a man was seen loaded onto a bus and heading to the Texas airport.
Another famous case involves Kilmer Abrego Garcia, a Salvador man who lived in Maryland with his wife and three children when deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration has accused him of being a member of the MS-13 gang that denies him to his home country in justification that justifies deporting him to his home country, despite the immigration judge’s orders from 2019 preventing him from being sent there.
The administration has recognized it as an “administrative error” to deport him, and the Supreme Court has ordered the government to “promote” his return to the United States so that he can sue his case. The administration appears to have made little effort to do so, claiming it has no power to force El Salvador to do so.
“I don’t know,” Trump replied when he asked if anyone in his administration was in touch with the El Salvador government to return Abrego Garcia. “We have to ask the Attorney General about that question.”
There is no contestation that Abrego Garcia has illegally entered the United States or that the government could oust him.
Trump argued that he had no objection to the Supreme Court.
“No. I rely on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is extremely capable and does an incredible job because I am not involved in legality or illegality,” he said. “I have a lawyer who does that, so I have a great DOJ.”
Trump also said he might return to the Supreme Court to clarify what the term “promote” meant by the judiciary.
“We might do that. I was asking about it. We might do that,” he said.
The administration lost in the lower court in its response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Abrego Garcia, but has yet to call for justice to intervene for a second time.
The Trump administration has other options to speed up the deportation process. For example, by amending immigration laws to Congress and expanding resources for immigration judges to allow them to be processed more quickly. However, the administration fired an immigration judge.
Welker also noted that some Americans were mistakenly detained by immigration authorities under the Trump administration and asked if they would need to start carrying documents as they leave the house to prove their status.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Trump said. He then shifted and spoke of people who were “killed, plagued, severely hurt by illegal immigrants from prisons, prisons and mental institutions.”
In an interview Friday, Trump repeatedly called on lawyers and said he was keeping their instructions in mind to ensure he is following the law. In addition to immigration, Trump has dealt with his threat of robbing Harvard’s tax-free status.
Ivy League schools recently sued the federal government over a decision to freeze more than $2 billion in funding. The administration argued that the university refused to act on campus with the aim of ending anti-Semitism. Harvard said it was an “unprecedented” request to police the perspectives of students, faculty and staff.
Welker pointed out to Trump that federal law would prohibit the president from instructing the president to investigate the situation of the organization and withdraw it.
“Do you think you’re following the law?” Welker asked.
“I’m going to follow what my lawyers say,” Trump replied. “They say we are allowed to do it, and I’m everything for it. But everything I say is subject to 100% compliance with the law.”
Trump also said he would be willing to lead the fight to court if necessary.
“That’s true,” he added. “Why not?”
This story first appeared on nbcnews.com. More from NBC News:
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