Washington, DC (June 25, 2018) – Yesterday, the U.S. President called for the wholesale and illegal deprivation of due process to an entire category of persons in the United States. He tweeted, among other things:
“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.”
In addition, it was reported yesterday that immigrants whose children were forcibly taken from them by U.S. officials have been told that they can have their children back if they waive their right to an asylum hearing and sign a voluntary deportation order.
“These stated positions and practices on the southern border are illegal and selective,” said National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) President Rick Jones. “They constitute nothing short of a brazen attack on the very core of the oath of office he took – to ‘preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.’ There is no room in a rule of law nation for sweeping, authoritarian pronouncements such as these. And it is entirely unacceptable for the American government to have taken children from their families in the first place, never mind to now use those children to extort waivers of rights under the law.”
“NACDL is proud to stand with our colleagues in the immigrant rights community to defend the Constitution, the rule of law, common decency, and all the humanitarian bonds that are the essence of a nation of immigrants,” said NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer.
Contacts
Ivan Dominguez, NACDL Director of Public Affairs and Communications, (202) 465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.