A.G. Gancarski
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a 2026 candidate for Governor, says some exceptions apply to due process as the Donald Trump administration seeks to remove illegal immigrants from the U.S.
“It is not physically possible to hire that many Judges and process them out of the country. This is why you cannot have open borders to begin with,” Donalds said on “Meet the Press Now.”
Donalds noted that Congress is considering “dollars provided to the administration to speed up the deportation efforts,” but doesn’t believe formal hearings are practical or necessary.
He also says the framers of the Constitution “never envisioned that there would be an executive that would allow millions of people to come into the country illegally,” referring to President Joe Biden.
Furthermore, the nation can’t “hide behind due process,” Donalds said, since “it would take us 15 years to actually process people back out of the United States.”
“When it comes to due process, that is a privilege reserved for American citizens,” Donalds contended, despite the Constitution stating that due process protections apply to “any person,” not just citizens.
“With people who are in our country illegally, there is a semblance of due process, but not nearly at the level of a United States citizen or an American. There are two different standards,” Donalds argued.
The President agrees with this read.
“I hope we get cooperation from the courts, because we have thousands of people that are ready to go out and you can’t have a trial for all of these people,” Trump said earlier this month, via The New York Times. “We don’t think there’s anything that says that.”
The American Civil Liberties Union and multiple local chapters sued Trump in January over this interpretation.
The case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador despite a lower court trying to block the action, has brought the practice into sharp relief, particularly given the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that he should be brought back to the U.S. from the Center for Terrorism and Confinement (CECOT), a prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration is paying to house prisoners there.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, has said the law permits National Guard members to handle deportation hearings, and has offered Florida forces to do so.
“These are not Article 3 Judges. They are executive branch employees, basically. We can absolutely deputize Judge Advocates from our National Guard units to serve as immigration Judges,” he added.
17 comments
R Russell
May 6, 2025 at 12:58 pm
Donalds, you are a genius! Stating the obvious after virtually everyone else had said same days ago.
Just Asking for My Dog and Cat in Springfield
May 7, 2025 at 3:06 pm
Say, does anyone know if Desantii and their most ardent supporters are still panicking over that Trump endorsement of Donalds?
Hung Wiil
May 16, 2025 at 10:41 pm
But he is the next governor, ru ru russell.
MH/Duuuval
May 6, 2025 at 1:17 pm
Hold on, now — there are plenty of JAG types ready to judge migrants. Jax City Council has one of them: Rory Diamond who is term limited and will be available whenever the Guard calls. Please give him a call!
Victoria Olson
May 6, 2025 at 2:27 pm
As usual Republican President wants this mass deportations yet they NEVER Think or Plan the Consequences of their actions. Duh, like not having enough judges for hearings for Due Process. Similar to when the last time trump was president and separated children from their families and never set up a data base to track where they sent those children so they could be returned to to parents. To this day 1,200 children still have NOT BEEN UNITED with their parents and Biden spent time, energy & money for several years trying to accomplish this no thanks to trump who NEVER thinks actions through or does NOT care is more the answer, the egregious Fascist NAZI that he is.
Ocean Joe
May 7, 2025 at 3:08 pm
Dont worry Victoria, when the legislative session is over all the white members will go out and pick the beans.
Hung Wiil
May 16, 2025 at 10:42 pm
You’re making their facial tissue a racial issue? Wow, that’s new.
PeterH
May 6, 2025 at 4:50 pm
The irony here is that on Congress has the authority to write strict border legislation. I believe that Republicans control all three branches of government and Byron is a Republican in Congress…… and Republicans are failing to do their job.
MH/Duuuval
May 6, 2025 at 6:35 pm
Trump has and had the final word on immigration amongst his elected followers.
Bill
May 7, 2025 at 7:49 am
It does boggle the mind. A great opportunity to write some legislation and lock it down especially after they wouldn’t work with the Dems to try and fix things before so Trump would have his platform to run on. I think he’s just lazy. He’ll write executive orders all day long but they can all be overturned. They really aren’t interested in governing at all.
Ghost of Ronald Reagan
May 7, 2025 at 3:09 pm
You’re expecting Republicans to actually govern?
Michael K
May 7, 2025 at 8:10 am
I think Donald’s should read the Constitution – to the entire Republican Party. It’s very clear: it says every person.
Imagine who might be swept up in mass deportations with no due process? Journalists? Your neighbor who shows up at protest marches? A teacher who teaches Maya Angelous poetry? Someone with a “funny sounding” name?
Think it can’t happen here? It’s already started.
LexT
May 7, 2025 at 9:19 am
In so many ways, this process should be completely reversed. If you are here illegally, you get thrown out. If you think you can pass a “prima facia” test for asylum, then the illegal immigrant should be the one taking the initiative to go to a court and file a petition. If you have a good argument, you take the initiative and seek the court out and make your case. If you wait to get caught… just get out and don’t come back.
Andy
May 7, 2025 at 12:28 pm
Funny how ‘legal activism’ is Ok for a 34 time convicted felon, but not citizens???
It Was A Day of Love
May 7, 2025 at 3:15 pm
And now he’s using your money to pay off Ashley Babbitt’s family when he himself should’ve been prosecuted for her death. I’m sure the Feds have an equivalent to Florida’s felony murder rule. If two folks rob a bank, but one stays in the car as the getaway driver, he’s completely liable for whatever happens. So a guy brings a crowd to Washington, then gives a speech exhorting them to go down to the Capitol and fight to keep their government, and death occurs as a result of that action, not sure how it’s any different. Especially when it was all based on a lie.
Larry Gillis, Director-at-Large, Libertarian Party of Florida
May 9, 2025 at 2:06 pm
EXACTLY WHAT PART OF “DUE PROCESS” DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, SIR?
The Constitution could not possibly be any clearer than it already is. “… due process …” is owed to ” …any person …”.
I mean, how many copies of the Constitution are being carried about by how many persons anywhere in the Capitol Building on any given day? For that matter, you can ask the janitor as he passes you buy in the hallway, mop and bucket in hand. (He’s got one).
Where is YOUR copy, Congressman? Take a look. And you wanna be our GOVERNOR?
JD
May 9, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Well said.
Comments are closed.