Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated on Tuesday that President Donald Trump possesses an unequivocal right to deport individuals without adhering to due process. This assertion came after she provided an inaccurate interpretation of the legal term habeas corpus.
Noem faced questioning regarding habeas corpus — a constitutional right allowing individuals to contest their detention by government authorities in court — during a Senate hearing.
When Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, asked, “Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?”, Noem replied, “Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”
Hassan quickly countered, stating, “That’s incorrect. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea.”
In response to inquiries about Noem’s statements, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Finance Newso, “Secretary Noem was right: Presidents have suspended habeas corpus in practice—Lincoln, Grant, FDR, and Bush—all during moments of crisis. Technically, Congress holds that power under the Constitution, but in reality, presidents have acted first, and legal authority followed. The precedent is real.”
Noem’s comments gained attention as she oversees an agency currently engaged in an extensive campaign of detentions and deportations that courts have determined infringe upon the habeas corpus rights of detainees.
Earlier in the month, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller suggested that the writ of habeas corpus could be suspended for migrants, claiming that “the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion.”
In mid-March, Trump issued an executive proclamation invoking the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, asserting that a Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua was “perpetrating an invasion” against the United States.
This proclamation declared that any Venezuelan over 14 years of age associated with the gang, who was not a naturalized citizen or lawful resident, would be subject to removal and deemed “chargeable with actual hostility against the United States.”
U.S. authorities swiftly moved to detain and deport numerous Venezuelans whom they labeled as gang members, denying them due process rights to contest their detentions and deportations.
A group of Venezuelan detainees facing deportation to El Salvador contended in court that they had not been given sufficient time or resources to challenge their detentions, accusing the United States of infringing upon their habeas corpus rights.
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted the detainees’ request to halt their removal under the Alien Enemies Act.
In a 7-2 ruling, the court determined that the Trump administration had failed to provide adequate time or resources for the detainees to challenge their deportations.
“Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” read the unsigned opinion.
The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus has occurred only four times since the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, with Congress authorizing the suspension in three of those instances.
