As Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown continues with federal immigrant agents patrolling America’s streets, the director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School joined “Morning Joe” to discuss the basic rights that every person — citizens and noncitizens alike — is entitled to under the Constitution.
“The videos that have been documenting what has been happening across the country are incredibly disturbing,” Elora Mukherjee said Thursday. “And many of those videos show that federal law enforcement officers, including ICE officers, are clearly violating people’s rights.”
Mukherjee said there are three rights everyone should keep in mind if they find themselves face-to-face with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.
“First, all people on American soil, regardless of their immigration or citizenship status, have a right under the First Amendment to engage in peaceful protest,” she explained.
“The First Amendment makes no distinctions based on immigration or citizenship status,” Mukherjee added. “And this has been confirmed in cases from the Supreme Court that go back about a century.”
The second protection every person should be aware of, is the right to due process, she said.
“That right to due process may look different based on whether a person is a U.S. citizen, or whether they have been in the country for a shorter period of time without documentation,” the immigrants’ rights lawyer said. “But under no circumstances should the Trump administration be summarily detaining, deporting people because they have engaged in peaceful protests and speech that is disfavored by the federal government, by the Trump administration.”
“And third,” Mukherjee continued, “all people do have a right to remain silent when they are approached by federal law enforcement officers and state law enforcement officers.
“You have a right against self-incrimination; so you don’t need to say what country you’re from, where you were born.” However, while the Constitution does afford these rights, Mukherjee said it was “critically important” to recognize the degree to which the Trump administration is unconstrained. “The executive branch, the Trump administration, is pushing the bounds of executive power well beyond the system of checks and balances set up in the U.S. Constitution,” she said. You can watch Mukherjee’s full interview on “Morning Joe” in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. Recommended
