BELOIT – State Senator Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) released the following statement reacting to the decisions of President Trump and his administration to willfully ignore a unanimous ruling from the United States Supreme Court in Noem v. Abrego Garcia which directed the Trump Administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was illegally deported to El Salvador from his home in Maryland.
“In the last few days, President Trump and his administration have ramped up their threats to citizens and noncitizens alike with the possibility that they may be removed from the country without due process and without any regard for the law. The Trump Administration has made clear that if they label a person a criminal or terrorist, they can remove them from the country without checking the facts, having a trial, securing a conviction, and following the law. Their legal arguments were rejected by every judge and justice who heard them – from a district court, to an appeals court panel, and all the way to a unanimous rejection by the United States Supreme Court. The President lost this case, but instead of respecting our country’s separation of powers, he has chosen to double down on a lawless policy that threatens the rights of citizens and noncitizens.
“The President has had every opportunity to do the right thing and fix a situation that his own attorney called an error and a mistake. President Trump met with President Bukele of El Salvador in the Oval Office yesterday, and instead of requesting Abrego Garcia’s immediate return, he continued to insist he would not change course. Earlier today, the White House made clear that they not only will not be seeking Abrego Garcia’s return, they would deport him again if given the chance. This rejection of facts and the law is a dangerous sign for anyone who values the rule of law in our country.
“The President has also made clear that he will not stop with this case. In the Oval Office, he publicly discussed sending US citizens to foreign prisons with the same illegal process. That is not how our laws work. Everyone in the United States is constitutionally guaranteed a right to due process: to hear the arguments made against them and have their response heard in court before a decision is made to take away their rights. President Trump is actively arguing against those rights and has made clear he will break the law whenever he wants – no matter what the Supreme Court says. We must be clear: that is illegal and it is dangerous.
“The President must fulfill his oath to the Constitution, stop his illegal deportations, and give people the due process they are granted under United States law and the Constitution. If the President can allege that someone is a criminal without convicting them of a crime, deport them to another country without a court hearing, and refuse to bring them back when ordered to by a judge, the Constitution has broken down and no American, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, is safe.”
