President Trump’s stance on immigration, and particularly the reunification of immigrant families at the border, has fluctuated significantly in recent weeks.
Most recently, in a series of tweets Sunday, Trump not only appeared to contradict his Wednesday Executive Order, but also seemed to call for an end to due process. The tweets closely follow the Saturday night release of a “fact sheet” by the Department of Homeland Security, intended to outline the administration’s plan for family reunification.
In the Sunday tweets, Trump first called out the Democrats for “resisting” the administration’s aim of fixing immigration laws, claiming that his administration is “doing a far better job than Bush and Obama, but we need strength and security at the border.”
“Cannot accept all of the people trying to break into our Country,” he continued. “Strong Borders, No Crime!”
Democrats, fix the laws. Don’t RESIST. We are doing a far better job than Bush and Obama, but we need strength and security at the Border! Cannot accept all of the people trying to break into our Country. Strong Borders, No Crime!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2018
Trump then doubled down on the notion of illegal entry, adding in a second tweet that “we cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country.”
But it’s the second part of the tweet that caused the biggest blow. Trump wrote that “when somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came [emphasis added].”
While the remainder of his tweets claimed that American immigration policy is ridiculed throughout the rest of the world, it was the suggestion of doing away with due process that drew the biggest response.
We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2018
….Our Immigration policy, laughed at all over the world, is very unfair to all of those people who have gone through the system legally and are waiting on line for years! Immigration must be based on merit – we need people who will help to Make America Great Again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2018
The ACLU released a statement Sunday condemning Trump’s tweets, calling his suggested approach “both illegal and unconstitutional.” The organization then called on “any official who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and laws” to disavow Trump’s suggestion “unequivocally.”
Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, also wrotethat “The President of the United States has just forcefully proposed the end of political asylum and no due process for migrants.”