Nate Jackson: On Trump's Authority, Due Process and 'Racism'

The president can deny entry to illegals, but leftists insist law enforcement is racist.

“We cannot have a system of catch and release. We are a sovereign nation. We have to secure our borders. And so we just simply cannot have a situation where people are apprehended, they’re released, they don’t return to court, and they know they’re able to do that.” Was that President Donald Trump on another tirade about immigration? Was it one of his officials earning the harassment leveled at them by Democrats? No, it was Jeh Johnson, secretary of homeland security for Barack Obama.

Those comments set up Trump’s recent actions, both in terms of establishing zero-tolerance prosecution policies at the border and then stepping back with last Wednesday’s executive order. Then came yesterday’s report that the Border Patrol has suspended prosecutions of adults crossing the border with children — unless, the Associated Press notes, “they had criminal history or the child’s welfare was in question.” DHS says it’s “out of resources” to detain families.

Meanwhile, Trump continued his musings about immediate deportation, saying, “People must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally. Children brought back to their country. If this is done, illegal immigration will be stopped in it’s tracks — and at very little, by comparison, cost.”

Does Trump have the authority to do this? Yes, under 8 U.S.C. §1182(f), which empowers the president to turn away at the border immigrants he deems unfit for entry.

Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.

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