NATIONAL – A recent article published by The Hill, entitled “Trump’s threats to send citizens to El Salvador aren’t idle,” reports that the Trump administration has taken steps that appear to undermine the Constitution and the principle of due process. One such measure includes efforts to send immigrants allegedly present illegally in the United States to the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT), a notorious prison in El Salvador.
According to The Hill, the administration also suggested sending immigrants to Libya—“a country the State Department warns American citizens not to visit.” These attempts have been blocked by a federal judge for now, though the administration has signaled its intent to pursue similar strategies in the future.
As The Hill reports, the Trump administration has a track record of deporting immigrants while refusing to facilitate their lawful return. One notable case involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador despite the administration admitting the deportation was in error and despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering his return. Yet, the administration has refused to comply.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller has even “threatened suspension of habeas corpus,” according to The Hill—suggesting the administration may seek to detain individuals without judicial oversight. Many legal experts and advocates have likened Garcia’s deportation to a form of state-sponsored human trafficking, rather than the result of a lawful immigration process.
Though the administration frames these actions as necessary tools in the fight against illegal immigration, The Hill warns that such policies could also endanger American citizens. Once citizens are under the jurisdiction of a foreign government such as El Salvador’s, the Trump administration has argued it holds no responsibility for their return. This troubling stance could extend to Libya or other nations targeted for deportations in the future.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a stern warning about the implications of such a policy. She wrote, “Not only noncitizens but also United States citizens could be taken off the streets, forced onto planes, and confined to foreign prisons with no opportunity for redress if judicial review is denied unlawfully before removal,” as quoted in The Hill.
Further fueling concern, The Hill reports that former President Trump told Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that he would “love” to send U.S. citizens to CECOT, encouraging Bukele to “build about five more places” because “homegrowns are next.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded by saying that Trump merely “floated” the idea and that it would apply only to “heinous violent criminals who have repeatedly broken our nation’s laws,” as reported by The Hill. She emphasized that any such policy would be pursued through “legal options.” However, The Hill casts doubt on the sincerity of these assurances, noting that due process must be upheld before any deportation can occur.
According to The Hill, approximately 90 percent of noncitizens sent to El Salvador under the Trump-era policy have no criminal convictions, highlighting the broad scope and potential overreach of the administration’s deportation efforts.
The article places these policies within a broader historical context. Roughly 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon sought to expand government authority to detain individuals deemed “dangerous.” William Rehnquist, then a legal advisor in Nixon’s administration, drafted legislation for the District of Columbia that enabled preventive detention of individuals based on perceived threats to public safety.
The Hill also references then-Attorney General John Mitchell, who wrote a law review article defending pretrial detention on the grounds of community danger. Mitchell claimed that only 10 percent of cases would result in detention—though that number has since ballooned.
In U.S. v. Salerno, the Supreme Court addressed the issue of pretrial detention, upholding its constitutionality. The opinion was authored by Rehnquist, who by then had become Chief Justice. During oral arguments, the solicitor general controversially cited the infamous Korematsu v. U.S. decision—which had upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II—as precedent supporting the executive’s power to detain or deport both noncitizens and citizens during times of perceived national crisis.
Since Salerno, pretrial detention has become commonplace. The Hill notes that, today, approximately 75 percent of all federal defendants are detained before trial, with average stays approaching a year—despite the Constitution’s guarantee of a presumption of innocence.
To underscore the erosion of civil liberties, The Hill quotes Benjamin Franklin’s timeless warning: “Those who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
The article concludes by arguing that the writ of habeas corpus must remain “sacred.” Deporting individuals to foreign countries without ensuring their return and denying them access to the legal protections guaranteed under the Constitution contradicts the foundational American principle of “innocent until proven guilty.”
